Iowa Workforce Development Communications
For Immediate Release
Date: July 6, 2015
Contact: Ed Wallace
Telephone: 515-281-5082
515-954-0907
Email: edward.wallace@iwd.iowa.gov
Iowa Workforce Development Announces Emily Chafa Promoted to Appeals Division Manager
DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) announced today that Emily Chafa has been promoted to UI Appeals Division Manager with IWD, Unemployment Insurance Appeals Bureau. In her position, Ms. Chafa will oversee 15 administrative law judges, who hear and decide administrative appeals regarding unemployment insurance benefits, along with their support staff.
IWD Director Beth Townsend said, “Emily Gould Chafa has the right experience, the right demeanor and the legal acumen to provide leadership and direction to this division. Emily is a very experienced administrative law judge who can provide training, guidance and support to our UI Appeals judges, who have demanding caseloads. I am thrilled to be able to hire an attorney of this caliber who has always demonstrated the highest level of integrity for this incredibly important position."
Ms. Chafa is a graduate of the Loyola School of Law in Chicago, Illinois. She also graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drake University. She has been with the State of Iowa since 2009 when she began as an attorney for IWD, providing legal support to the newly established Misclassification Unit. In 2010, she moved to the Department of Inspections and Appeals, Division of Administrative Hearings, where she heard and decided administrative appeals from state agency decisions as part of a central panel. Her docket included appeals from the Department of Human Services, the Department of Transportation, and Iowa Workforce Development. She also reviewed Iowa Civil Rights Commission investigation reports and issued orders in those cases. Since April of 2015, she has worked as an administrative law judge at IWD, hearing and deciding administrative appeals regarding UI benefits. She has also worked with Iowa Legal Aid, as an assistant city attorney with the City of Des Moines and as an assistant state’s attorney with Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Ms. Chafa says, “I look forward to serving the people of Iowa. We recognize that the administrative hearing process impacts the day to day lives of many individual Iowans and Iowa employers. We will maximize our resources and increase efficiencies to meet our mandate, to conduct fair and impartial hearings and promptly issue decisions.”
Ms. Chafa is past president of the Polk County Bar Association, an active board member of the Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys and a member of the Iowa State Bar Association Board of Governors. She volunteers to judge middle and high school participants in Mock Trial Programs. She is active with the Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble and Plymouth Congregational Church. She and her husband live in Johnston, and enjoy watching their son’s college baseball games and cheering on the Iowa Cubs and the Iowa State Cyclones.