Yes, Kentucky staffed up its unemployment phone lines. But many can't fix your problems

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky has added more than 1,000 workers to staff its overrun unemployment phone lines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two months ago — but two-thirds are qualified to do little more than answer basic questions. 

Nearly 70% of the 1,161 employees in the state unemployment office are classified as "Tier One" representatives, meaning they're mostly able to answer general eligibility and programmatic questions. 

"We hired a lot more people to answer the phone, but there's a difference between having someone answer the phone and having a quality conversation that helps you," Gov. Andy Beshear told The Courier Journal last week.

"That's been hard because if you finally get through ... and then you don't feel like you're helped at all, well that's a really awful frustration that people shouldn't have to feel."

To be sure, the system has seen unprecedented demand. 

Over the past eight weeks, about 742,000 people in Kentucky — or about 36% of the state workforce — have filed for unemployment. 

Part of these unemployment filers’ frustration stems from the inability to reach a state worker on the overloaded phone lines.

Numerous readers contacting Reader’s Watchdog have complained of a call-back service that seems to never call back and hourslong waits on phones lines without any guarantee of reaching a live person to help.

More:Coronavirus: How to file for unemployment in Kentucky, who is eligible?

Some readers report that after waiting for hours, they reach a Tier One representative who is of no help to them.

They’re passed along to a higher tier, a process that includes more hours of waiting and sometimes, readers say, a disconnect.

Less than a third of those who are working the state phone lines, 315 people, are Tier Two representatives, who can assist filers with sorting out name and identity verification issues and resetting PINs, which are used to log into the online system. 

Just 46 people are Tier Three employees. These are the workers who have the most access to and knowledge of the unemployment system. They have the greatest ability to solve complex issues. 

Those numbers have increased since three weeks ago, when the combined total of Tier Two and Three employees was 200.

Still, given that there's about 16,600 claims from March and nearly 49,000 from April that are still not processed, the state is working to reduce the number of Tier One representatives.

"Many are being trained and transferred to increase Tier 2 and 3 staffing, knowledge, and capabilities," said JT Henderson, spokesman for the state's Education & Workforce Development Cabinet.

Henderson noted that more than half of the March outstanding claims are very close to being processed, as the state is working on "a technology solution" that would avoid the claims from being manually approved. 

Many of the remaining claims are hung up due to employers protesting or because of a complex issue, officials have said. 

The governor said he's well aware of the issues people have had applying and receiving payment. The state needs to have better customer service, he said. 

"We need to do a better job of communicating if there’s a challenge with your claim what it is and how long it may take," he said. 

Last week, Beshear made two points that he previously had not stressed when speaking about unemployment.

First, he said the state's unemployment office cannot be left to "starve." Prior to the pandemic, the unemployment call center was staffed with about a dozen people, officials have said. 

"We can’t leave the next administration like we had it with just a tiny number of people," Beshear said. "This has got to be a healthy area of state government that’s ready and able to step up when needed."

He also spoke of the large role the federal government is playing in unemployment benefits, especially now that federal legislation has greatly expanded eligibility. 

"This is the federal government that sets the rules and the hoops we have to jump through, that says if you check a wrong box that it’s gonna take time to fix it, that says if your employer contests it we have to go through a big long process," Beshear said last week.

More:Some changes are coming to unemployment benefits in Kentucky. Here's what to know

Focus now turning to April claims

Roy Redding, 73, owns a flooring business in Louisville. 

After filing on April 8, he's tried calling the same three or four state phone numbers, but hasn't been able to get through to anyone to tell him why he hasn't seen any payment.

An automated call continues to ping his phone some evenings with a recorded message that someone will eventually give him a call. 

"Bills are coming due and I need someone to give me a hand," he said.

On Thursday, the governor said 88 percent of unemployment claims filed over nine weeks in March and April are fully processed and paid. 

The outstanding 12 percent still leaves tens of thousands awaiting help, including Redding. 

With an increasing number of March claims resolved, it is April claims like Redding's that the state is now turning its attention to. 

Redding said his work has largely dried up since the start of the pandemic, though he's hoping a July project for one of his biggest clients won't fall through.

The uncertainty of the future has worn on him. His ongoing fight against lung cancer hasn't helped either, he said. 

"The stress is something else," he said, "when you don’t know where the next paycheck is coming from." 

Also:Patience is wearing thin for Kentuckians still awaiting unemployment checks

Along with efforts to increase training for call center employees, Henderson said starting the week of May 10, the state began adding more people to adjudicate claims.

The goal is to add 250 people over the next few weeks to review claims and resolve issues. This is in addition to the 250 people who are already performing that work and on top of the 1,000-plus people answering phone calls.

He also noted that a portion of the unresolved 49,000 April claims may still be in the employer protest period and not yet eligible to be paid. 

Even if there are no issues with a claim, payments aren’t generated until the end of a 13-day window after applying, during which time the state is calculating the weekly benefit amount, verifying identity and allowing the employer to protest a claim.

Once payment is approved, the state says it can take between two and five days before benefits are received by filers.  

Matthew Glowicki’s Reader's Watchdog column helps readers get answers and holds public officials, businesses and individuals to account. Contact him at watchdog@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4989 or on Twitter @mattglo. Support Reader's Watchdog by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg.