Pa. Department of Labor & Industry is providing an update on customer service measures. Co
LEHIGH VALLEY, PA (WLVT-TV) - The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry gave an update Monday about what they are doing to keep up with the influx of people filing for unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Secretary of Labor & Industry, Jerry Oleksiak, says "thus far, our staff has worked over 280,000 hours of overtime. Since March 15th we have more than doubled our staff going from 775 employees to currently 1655 employees and we have helped over a million and a half of our fellow citizens through our contact lines, whether it's the phone, email, chat or virtual assistant.”
As the Labor and Industry Secretary touted the department’s efforts, he also answered questions about a website outage Sunday. “How many claimants were impacted? It really depends on how many claimants were trying to log in at that time, and I don't know if we can, can know that for sure," says Oleksiak. If you tried to file an unemployment compensation claim Sunday, you might not have been able to.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry website crashed with people unable to file claims or to file for biweekly benefits. The Unemployment Compensation Benefits Policy Director, Susan Dickenson, says “I don't know exactly how long it lasted. I do remember someone in it saying that after it was brought up, it's not an instant fix and especially the larger it is and in this case, nationwide or global. Once it's back on, that doesn't mean an immediate back on. It takes a while to regenerate and be back to the speed that it should. “
According to Dickenson, the website was back up and running Monday and those looking to file have until Friday to do so. The Secretary also addressed an additional $300 per week from FEMA that unemployed Pennsylvania’s will now receive, saying “in order to get that there are some qualifications that must be met including a minimum of $100 received in unemployment benefits and eligible employees must self certify that they are unemployed fully or partially due to covid 19.“ That money is retroactive from the beginning of August and those payments are expected to start by the end of August. He says “we continue to work as quickly and as effectively as we can to make sure that every every every citizen who is entitled to benefits gets them”
That extra $300 a week is expected to last until one of three things happens: Congress takes action that would supersede what's going on with the lost wages Assistance Act, when the $44 billion from FEMA runs out, or by December 27 of this year.