Jobless can't afford to wait

After she appealed a denial of unemployment benefits, Kizzetta Holmes was told to expect notification of a hearing date within 14 days.

Two weeks went by and Holmes, 30, hadn't heard anything, so she called the Nebraska Department of Labor. She was told the hearing hadn't been scheduled yet.

So Holmes called back a week later. Still no date.

“At this point, they know me,” the Omahan said. “I said, ‘Look, logically, what are people supposed to do for a month, two months, more months without unemployment benefits?'”

Holmes isn't the only one facing delays.

Processing unemployment claims is taking longer as thousands of Nebraskans lose their jobs in the recession and file for benefits. Labor Commissioner Catherine Lang said the backlog has caused significant delays in the notification process, and, consequently, the hearings themselves.

Callers have had to wait as long as 30 minutes for help over the telephone. And people are receiving initial benefit payments up to six weeks after they apply instead of the typical three or four weeks.

The office is unable to keep up, even though it has hired extra workers, Lang said.

A form letter stating that applicants will be notified of an appeal hearing within 14 days was changed at the beginning of this month to 15 days to 25 days, Lang said. However, the state is considering another revision to as many as 35 days, with the hearings themselves set for about 10 days after that.

“We try to put out accurate information, but our actual practices are falling short,” Lang said.

Nebraska's unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in May, which although it tied with North Dakota for the lowest in the country still translates to 43,438 people out of work. The May figure is a 38 percent increase over May 2008, when 31,509 people were unemployed.

Lang realizes the situation is difficult for people like Holmes.

“Many citizens are concerned and anxious and frustrated by their situation. We are in a backlog situation and trying to expedite these as fast as we can.”

So far this year the Labor Department has handled 4,900 appeals of decisions regarding unemployment benefits. In all of 2008 the department handled 6,553 appeals, Lang said.

“We are fast approaching a 45 percent increase in our workload on appeals alone,” she said.

Appeals and processing of initial claims also have been delayed in Iowa, which had a 5.9 percent unemployment rate in May, compared with 4 percent in May 2008, said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman with Iowa Workforce Development.

Claims processing has been taking about 20 days in Iowa instead of the usual 14 days, Koonce said. On the appeals side it takes about 23 days to close cases, up from 16 days, Koonce said.

In response, the Iowa department has hired and is training 26 more people to handle claims. It has hired one additional administrative law judge and has borrowed another from the workers compensation division, Koonce said.

Lang said people with simple job histories who are laid off in Nebraska could receive benefit checks within three weeks, but more complicated cases can take longer than in the past.

Holmes said health problems and a family emergency cut into her ability to do her job at a telemarketing firm. In late April, Holmes said, the company said it intended to let her go but suggested she resign instead so she remained in good standing and could return at some point.

Resigning, however, complicated her request for unemployment benefits. People who voluntarily quit their jobs generally have to wait 12 weeks before they can receive benefits. They also are entitled to only 14 weeks of benefits instead of 26 weeks.

Holmes said a state worker called her after she applied for benefits in early May and left a message asking for more information. Holmes missed that message, she said, and ended up calling the day after the deadline. Holmes said she was told her request for unemployment benefits had been rejected.

Her only option was to appeal, which she said she did on May 6 or May 7.

Holmes finally was notified on June 13 that her hearing would be held June 23. In more normal times, she might have received an appeal notice by May 21 and had her appeal heard by about June 8.

Meanwhile, Holmes said she has been offered a full-time job in the telecommunications field and plans to start on July 14. If she has to wait 12 weeks for jobless benefits, she might be working again before she gets any help. But it's also possible she could get benefits retroactive to when she first applied.

Holmes said the state should hire more workers to handle claims. “From my experience, unemployment is grossly overwhelmed.”

Lang said the number of extra workers she can hire is limited by budget constraints.

As the workload increased, Lang said, she hired temporary workers to more than double the number of call-center employees to 33. She also added seven people to investigate appeals, for a total of 39 adjudicators. The addition of two part-time administrative law judges brings the total to five full-time and four part-time judges.

Holmes said she knows other people without jobs have a harder time than she. She has been living with her parents and doesn't have children to support. Nevertheless, Holmes said, she's behind on her bills and has faced overdraft fees at her bank.

“People pay taxes to get help when they need it,” she said.

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com