A state agency is facing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services is being sued by Legal Aid of Arkansas. The lawsuit claims the agency is not being forthcoming with how decisions are being made during the pandemic and its relationship to a vendor that had a security breach resulting in over 30,000 people having their information possibly compromised.
According to the lawsuit, Legal Aid has been seeking information from DWS for a long period of time with regard to the delays in processing applications for unemployment insurance and pandemic unemployment assistance.
Legal Aid says in the suit that as of December 18, 2020, more than 26,000 unemployment claims were awaiting a decision with about a fourth of them waiting more than three months.
