If someone needs to speak to a person, the system should put them on hold and they contracted with several companies to increase call center capacity by 200 people.
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“We won’t have any dropped calls and individuals will be able to navigate through automated, interactive voice recognition technology, chat bot technology, and also there will be an opportunity to hold for an agent,” she said. “But the hope is, and our expectation is, we can filter out a number of question by using the chat technology.”
Area residents have expressed intense frustration about having trouble with their unemployment claims and repeatedly calling the state for help but not being able to get through.
“I can’t get through to anybody and I have tried every single day,” said Ralph Demaris, who said he laid off from a Liberty Twp. preschool. His unemployment claim didn’t go through and he can’t get an explanation why.
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“I’ve gone an entire month with no income and filed my first claim on April 1,” he said. “What do I have to do to find out if I can get a deposit in my account? My account is at zero.”
Hall said they are currently getting more than 500,000 calls a day amid the coronavirus pandemic. They increased call center staff from 42 employees to 1,600. But actually answering all the calls in person would take more than 3,500 people, she said, so automating the system was critical.
Hall said she sympathizes with peoples’ frustration.
“I know that it’s frustrating and folks have worked hard for these benefits that they’re eligible for,” she said.
Demaris has also been waiting for the state to get another program working. His wife was laid off from a part-time dishwashing job at Bob Evans. She didn’t make enough money to qualify for traditional unemployment and hasn’t been able to apply for expanded unemployment through the CARES Act.
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This temporary program, called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, started allowing people to pre-enroll Friday. It generally covers people who lost income because of the pandemic but don’t qualify for traditional unemployment for reasons such as being self-employed or not meeting income thresholds.
Hall said 1,500 people were able to pre-apply for the program during a limited “soft launch” Friday, and the application system should be open to everyone by this weekend. PUA claims won’t be processed and paid until mid-May she noted so while it’s good for people to start the process there is no need for people to rush.
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Nearly 1 million people have filed for unemployment since March, and the state has processed more than 72 percent of those claims, Hall said. The state has distrubuted more than $979 million to nearly 400,000 people so far.
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