Lawmakers push Labor Cabinet to process claims

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Republican state lawmakers today used a summer committee hearing to get an update on the state’s beleagured unemployment processing operation and urder the Beshear administration to step up processing.

During it’s meeting Wednesday, the Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government, Finance, Personnel, and Public Pensions heard from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on unemployment insurance, back-to-work incentives, and workforce training needs.

State Rep. Suzanne Miles, House Majority Caucus Chair, shared that she has been trying since April 15 to help her constituents set up virtual, in-person, and phone appointments to process their unemployment claims.

Since mid-April, she’s only been able to help schedule an appointment for one claimant. Miles expressed her concerns that the “solutions” provided by the Cabinet are still not working.

“The administration was offered the loan of more than 100 full-time employees by the Legislative Research Commission, but chose instead to pay $14.5 million to an outside firm. Now we have twice as many unprocessed claims, and there seems to be little to no plan in place to fix the problem,” said Miles.

The Labor Cabinet shared that training employees to process claims would take up to six months and the required federal background checks for short-term staffing would be very expensive. Instead, the administration contracted with Ernst & Young. The company required training, federal background checks, and cost the state $14.5 million.

On May 9, 2021, Kentucky’s work search requirements were reinstated after being waived during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Claimants that meet specific criteria are exempt from the work search, such as a member of a trade union that provides work placement, students in an approved training program, those who have a definite recall date within 12 weeks of filing the initial claim, individuals on a temporary leave of absence, or Kentuckians whose employer filed a mass electronic claim on their behalf.

Rep. Phillip Pratt of Georgetown expressed concern with how the work search requirement is verified.

“As a small business owner, I receive several phone calls a day asking if we are hiring. Most of those phone calls quickly end with a dial tone,” explained Pratt. “I encourage the Labor Cabinet to start following up with employers to provide a check and balance in order to ensure that the claimants are actually contacting the employer.”

The committee also heard from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce with an update on workforce training needs.

As Kentuckians recover from the pandemic, businesses have become desperate for employees.

Many businesses are offering hiring incentives such as sign on bonuses, wage increase, job flexibility, and increased paid leave time.

Even with the incentives, many are being forced to scale back their services and operating hours and make an investment in automated technologies to permanently decrease the necessary amount of employees.

To watch the meeting, visit the Legislative Research Commission YouTube page here.