Linda G. Runnels Missouri Cases

Linda Runnels, a seventy-five-year-old substitute teacher, was laid off due to COVID-19 and received unemployment benefits, which the Division of Employment Security later determined were overpaid. Runnels appealed the overpayment determination, but the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission affirmed the Appeals Tribunal's dismissal of her appeal as untimely. The appellate court affirmed the Commission's decision, holding that the Division's email notification was legally sufficient to trigger the appeal deadline and that equitable tolling principles could not extend the mandatory statutory deadline.