In what could undoubtedly be an expensive ruling for Kentucky businesses, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has tossed out a longstanding law allowing a non-lawyer to represent an employer at administrative unemployment hearings.  In its April 26 decision, the court found the law an unconstitutional encroachment on the state judicial branch’s executive authority to regulate the practice of law. Despite decades of businesses being permitted to designate an HR officer, managerial employee, third-party company or other individual/entity to represent the employer in contesting former employee claims for unemployment benefits, the court ruled that any employer organized as a legal entity must be represented by a licensed attorney in any unemployment hearings.