Former Jasper County Veterans Affairs Director/Administrator Alyssa Wilson has successfully appealed a January 7th unemployment insurance decision denying her benefits. Wilson was in charge of the Jasper County Veterans Affairs Office from October 2021 until December 11th of last year, when she was terminated for taking too much time off work without properly documenting it with the Jasper County Veterans Affairs Commission. This past summer, the commission asked Jasper County Human Resources Director Dennis Simon to track Wilson’s work time and attendance. According to testimony at the February 18th Unemployment Insurance Appeals hearing, Simon accumulated five pages of notes over three months, listing times and purported reasons Wilson was out of the office during the work day or had arrived for work or left early by as little as three to five minutes. These instances were either documented by Simon or two county employees in offices adjacent to Wilson’s. 

Former County employee Keith Thorpe testified on Wilson’s behalf, and said it was normal for administrators in Wilson’s position to have a flexible lunch time and work hours outside a normal shift. 

In his ruling reversing the original denial of unemployment benefits to Wilson, Administrative Law Judge David Steen noted at no point was Wilson warned or counseled about her attendance. Steen said Wilson credibly testified as to the reasons for her absence from the office at the various times noted in Simon’s report. He also wrote that Thorpe’s testimony about flexible lunch times and so-called “Comp” time worked outside of normal office hours for employees in Wilson’s position was credible. Therefore, the judge determined Wilson’s actions were not misconduct, or a deliberate breach of her duties, as claimed in the original ruling denying her unemployment benefits.