Nebraska Governor announces plan meant to speed up processing unemployment claims

LINCOLN, Neb (FOX 42 KPTM) — Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts announced plans Thursday designed to speed up processing unemployment claims.

In two months, the Department of Labor has received the same amount of claims it received in the last three years.

Labor Commissioner John Albin says they've processed about two years' worth.

That leaves a lot of people still waiting to receive unemployment benefits at a time when the next months' worth of rent and mortgage payments come due.

Up until now, the department's processors have had to call and verify every single employer within a certain time period in order to process a person's unemployment claim. It's the law.

Thursday Governor Ricketts announced he signed an executive order which waives that rule.

Now, the workers only need to call the most recent employer.

According to Albin, 40 percent of people filing claims have more than one employer the department would have to confirm.

"You have to reach out to all of them, you have to get their information, you have to do rebuttals if they provide contradictory information on the separation," he said.

One person in Nebraska had 20.

With a lot of businesses shut down, it makes things even more difficult. Albin says workers have had trouble getting a hold of some employers.

He says that's also why some people may still be waiting to receive a payment while their coworkers received theirs weeks ago.

"We really think this is going to be a substantial improvement to the process," said Albin.

The department will update its software Thursday night to be able to pull out specific claims that will benefit from this new rule.