RALEIGH – The North Carolina gym owner who was denied Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits by the N.C. Division of Employment Security (NCDES) because his “separation from employment was not due to COVID-19,” is now thanking Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest for helping shed light on and expediently resolve the issue.
Rich Hooton, who owns and manages a gym in Greenville, applied for unemployment and PUA benefits on account that Governor Roy Cooper has unilaterally commanded the closure of gyms since April, specifically citing the fitness facilities as viral hotspots that would spread the coronavirus.
But NCDES denied his application, saying that his situation was not due to COVID-19. That’s why you call, ‘Adding insult to injury.’
Luckily, Hooten, unable to get through to NCDES for further explanation, says it only took one phone call to the Office of Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest to make sense of a nonsensical situation.
Hooton shared the following update on Facebook:
“I am a nobody to Lt. Governor Dan Forest…
I don’t have the financial backing to be a power donor, and I hate politics. Until this shutdown you won’t find one political post on my social media pages. Usually filled with funny pix, outdoors, and most times about my wife wanting to pitch me off a cliff. I am embarrassed to say that I really didn’t know much about the structure of our elected officials in N.C.
One call to Forest’s office and I was contacted by NCDES last night and talked with someone this morning…deposit in account this morning, and expect PUA in the next 24-48 hours, or so I’m told. Heard he has helped people by the 1000s. He had nothing to gain by helping my family and I. Am indebted to him and his staff…”
Roy Cooper is busy lecturing people about wearing masks and giving lip-service to the idea of real leadership; meanwhile, Dan Forest is walking the walk, trying to clean up the huge messes created by Cooper’s Pandemic Panic overreach.
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