Carroll County’s former commission chairman says he was unaware that elected-officials are prohibited from receiving unemployment benefits after they leave office, when he applied for financial support in January.
 
“I figured that if I applied, that the Labor Department would know their own rules,” former chairman Bill Chappell told WLBB Radio Monday. “(I figured) that they would either approve or deny.”
 
The labor department did approve Chappell’s initial claim and paid him $1,650.

About a month later, the GDOL notified Chappell that he had been “over-paid” and insisted he repay the full amount. Chappell did so through a cashier’s check.
 
Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner Mark Butler quoted law on Monday that says the term ‘employment’ does not apply to elected officials… and preachers. Butler could not comment on Chappell’s particular case or provide the original paperwork from the claim, stating that he was prohibited by federal law from doing so.
 
Chappell contends that he worked hard for five years as Chairman but accepts the state policy.