Kentucky will increase the number of employees tasked with handling unemployment insurance claims from 12 before the outbreak of novel coronavirus to between 1,000 and 1,200 by the end of the week, according to Josh Benton, deputy secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.
Written by Will Wright of the Herald-Leader
That increase comes as a response to the historic number of Kentuckians who have filed for unemployment in recent weeks, straining the system well beyond its capacity and leaving many applicants either unable to file for unemployment or unsure of the status of their claims.
“If we need more (employees), we’ll add more,” Benton said.
During the last week of March, a record-breaking 112,726 Kentuckians filed for unemployment insurance — up from less than 3,000 applicants during a single week in early March.
The influx has left many residents frustrated and struggling to pay bills as the phone lines and website used to file claims have crashed repeatedly over the past several weeks.
Many who are unable to file received “false negative” response letters from the state, which tell the applicants that they do not qualify for unemployment insurance even if they actually do qualify.
Benton said residents should disregard those false negative letters. “We apologize for that, nobody should be getting those denial letters,” Benton said.
(Cross-posted via the Kentucky Press News Service. Read the rest of the article at the Herald-Leader.)
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