Close to half a million people, mostly because of the Coronavirus, have filed for unemployment protection. Some have not seen their first payment.
Approximately 175,000 of these people, because they had to leave their job for health reasons or because they were contractors/gig workers are waiting to receive their first check.
Why?
Because the Arizona State Unemployment System is broken.
Despite hiring more staff, people who have applied for unemployment insurance cannot get through to the Department of Economic Security on the phone.
Unemployment claims take weeks to process leaving people to fend for themselves.
An antiquated computer system from the last century cannot handle the Coronavirus Federal Unemployment assistance for those who have not normally qualified to receive the aid.
People have to fax (yes, fax) supporting documentation instead of uploading them online.
This is the condition of the Arizona State Unemployment System.
It is broken and needs to be fixed and brought into the Twenty-First Century.
People, despite the warnings of state legislators like Legislative District 18 State Representative Mitzi Epstein a month ago, have had to wait and suffer for almost six weeks in some cases while technicians try to get the system to work.
In a statement from April 28, House Representative Ruben Gallego wrote:
“We’re seeing a lot of unnecessary and unacceptable delays….. Families need to pay rent and put food on the table and they can’t wait around for weeks while the DES flounders.”
2018 Congressional Six Democratic Nominee (and 2020 candidate) Anita Malik, a former chief operating officer of a technology company commented:
“This is a federal & state failing. As a country, we dismissed the change in how we work. We’re stuck in the past and so we let a benefit deficient workforce grow.”
“Now, we’ve “included” contractors and gig workers in COVID-19 relief, but our outdated technology doesn’t let them even apply for aid for weeks? It is an unacceptable failure of leadership that has been negligent about preparing and protecting our most critical systems. We should be investing in this important infrastructure to ensure it is agile, capacity tested and crisis ready.”
“The federal government should have also recognized the weakness in our state unemployment offices through collaborative discussions with states about the growing number of claims. These tech gaps we’re seeing across the country aren’t a surprise, and this could have been avoided with more direct checks into the hands of people.”
Hopefully, people will be able to breathe a little easier when the system gets upgraded by May 12 to process the many thousands of unemployment applications that qualify for the $600 a week in federal aid.
At least Arizonans are not living in a state like Iowa or Oklahoma who are threatening to cut off people from unemployment insurance if they are too scared of getting the Coronavirus by going back to work.
What is paramount is the legislators at the State Capitol learn from this experience and pass legislation that provides for the building of a modern computer system at the Department of Economic Security that will prevent these delays from ever occurring again.
Or the people will remember in November who voted to keep it broken.
Please remember to:
Turn out and vote.
Register/sign up for the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) in Arizona or any state that allows early or absentee balloting and mail. Arizona residents can sign up at servicearizona.com
Arizona residents, mail your General Election ballot by October 28, 2020, for the November 3, 2020 election.
Check-in with the Secretary of State’s office where you live to verify your mail-in ballot was received, processed, verified, and counted.
Know the voter ID requirements in your state.
If you can, support Clean Election Candidates with a small contribution.
Also, please remember to stay informed on all the candidates and vote for all the offices on the ballot. Also, remember to research all the ballot initiatives and vote on them as well.
Remember Election Day is on November 3. 2020.
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As is widely recognized, the unemployment insurance systems of our various states have been deliberately designed to frustrate applications for benefits. This is only one aspect of the anti-worker policies that have been pursued in this country for decades now. No wonder the unemployment insurance systems are unable to handle a sudden influx of applications! They were meant NOT to handle even the normal number of applications in a worker-friendly manner. One can only hope that more people – especially workers! – will realize what is going on and start to vote out the neo-liberals in both parties who have caused and are still causing this deplorable situation.