Last week, Rotarian Tink Hill gave as a classification talk, and we learned that his full name is James Forest Davidson Hill. He is a native Austinite, whose great-grandmother was two years old when the slaves were freed. Tink is a high school dropout who joined the Marines and then the Navy. He later attended junior college and finished at Pepperdine in Malibu. He then attended Univ. of Texas at Austin law school and got a joint JD/MBA degree. The Texas workforce commission is his current employer, where he works in the unemployment division and an administrative law judge. Tink told us about the origins of unemployment payments, which started in 1935. The payments try to limit the hardships of becoming unemployed and also keep the economy going. It is a federal program that is state administered. A person can get unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks in 12-month year. Some special programs make it different in different states - weekly pay changes. Tink’s job is to hold hearings on unemployment claims and question the witnesses for each side to determine if the employee is qualified for unemployment payments. Unemployment is a tax for employers and insurance for employees. Employers are always trying to protect their tax rate. His decision can be appealed to the three-member commission and then to district court. Tink explained how the hearings work and how they align with Rotary’s four-way test and he also told us about different types of cases and what is used to calculate payments and taxes. As usually, another information Tink Hill presentation!