Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ August 12, 2021 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A22A0029. SHANITA MATTHEWS v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

On April 8, 2021, the superior court entered an order affirming the decision of the Georgia Department of Labor, which denied Shanita Matthews’s claim for benefits. Matthews then filed both an application for discretionary appeal and a notice of appeal. We denied Matthews’s discretionary application on the merits. See Case No. A21D0399 (Aug. 10, 2021). This is the direct appeal.

This Court’s denial of Matthews’s discretionary application constitutes a decision on the merits. See Elrod v. Sunflower Meadows Dev., LLC, 322 Ga. App. 666, 670 (4) (745 SE2d 846) (2013) (“[W]hen this Court examines a request for a discretionary appeal, it acts in an error-correcting mode such that a denial of the application is on the merits, and the order denying the application is res judicata with respect to the substance of the requested review.”) (punctuation omitted). Thus, the doctrine of res judicata bars this direct appeal from the same order. See Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 261 (1) (649 SE2d 313) (2007); Northwest Social & Civic Club v. Franklin, 276 Ga. 859, 860 (583 SE2d 858) (2003).This direct appeal is therefore DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/12/2021 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.