Case Name: Reynerio L. EXPOSITO, Appellant, v. SOUTH FLORIDA HOTELS, INC., and Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2007-05-23
Citations: 994 So. 2d 1117
Docket Number: No. 3D06-1763
Parties: Reynerio L. EXPOSITO, Appellant, v. SOUTH FLORIDA HOTELS, INC., and Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Appellees.
Judges: Before WELLS, and SUAREZ, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 994
Pages: 1117–1118

Head Matter:
Reynerio L. EXPOSITO, Appellant, v. SOUTH FLORIDA HOTELS, INC., and Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Appellees.
No. 3D06-1763.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
May 23, 2007.
Reynerio L. Expósito, in proper person.
John D. Maher (Tallahassee) for appel-lee, Commission.
Before WELLS, and SUAREZ, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

Opinion:
WELLS, J.
Claimant Reynerio L. Expósito appeals an order of the Unemployment Appeals Commission. The Commission affirmed the appeals referee's dismissal of Expositors untimely appeal from a claims adjudication denying unemployment compensation benefits. We agree that the late filing deprived the referee of jurisdiction to consider the merits of Exposito's claim. § 443.151(3)(a), Fla. Stat. (2006) (providing that a denial of benefits "is final unless within 20 days after the mailing of the notices . an appeal or written request for reconsideration is filed . "). Expósi-to does not dispute that the notice of appeal was untimely. We must therefore accept the appeals referee's finding of untimeliness. See Lawson v. Elizabethtown Gas Co., 913 So.2d 738, 738 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005); Leon v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 476 So.2d 761, 761-62 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985).
Accordingly, the Commission's order is affirmed.