LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration will soon roll out stopgap improvements to the state’s ailing unemployment insurance system, which officials say will help resolve issues with claims before the decades-old computer system can be completely rebuilt.
The improvements, Beshear general counsel Amy Cubbage said Thursday, include:
- A new call center that will launch by the end of April
- A new “user interface” (no specified timeline)
- A new online vendor for identity verification, which will launch next week
Cubbage said the state has secured federal funding for the call center and is hiring for it with an opening no later than the end of April. The new center will “significantly increase” the state’s capacity to help claimants over the phone, she said, without providing specific figures.
Kentucky currently schedules 125 phone appointments per day about six weeks in advance. As WDRB reported Wednesday, the appointments are in such demand that they’re snapped up immediately each night about midnight.
“As far as the phone issues, we’re hopeful that this new call center that we’re going to be standing up over the next six weeks will be a big help to try to relieve some of that stress on the system,” Cubbage said.
As for the user interface, Beshear said, “We have new website functionality, which should be helping our users that are out there.” Officials were not more specific during Thursday’s briefing and did not immediately respond to questions.
Cubbage said next week Kentucky will begin using a program called ID Me to handle identity verification. Many unemployment claimants say they’ve uploaded identity documents, but they disappear and their claims remain hung up.
“If you are having ID validation problems, hopefully this will help you navigate through the process as it also helps us to screen out additional fraudulent claims,” Cubbage said.
People who still need to verify their identity will be “directed to a website where you can create an ID Me account” and upload documents, and the vendor has a video chat for people having problems, Cubbage said.
Cubbage added that claimants who have successfully verified their identity do not need to use the ID Me: “If you don’t receive a link to ID Me, then you don’t need to do anything. It means you went through the first step of the validation through our other program.”
Beshear said without elaborating on Thursday that his administration is looking to once again offer in-person unemployment help at state employment offices.
“We’re working on opening career centers with both the hiring and working through the COVID protocols to do it,” Beshear said.
Except for one-off instances last year, Beshear’s administration has not offered in-person unemployment services because of COVID-19 concerns.
Beshear has also said many times that his administration is hampered by former Gov. Matt Bevin’s closing of about 30 smaller employment offices and elimination of about 95 staff people.
Beshear, a Democrat, has asked the GOP-controlled state legislature for about $50 million in the next two-year state budget to completely overhaul the “antiquated” unemployment computer system and restore the employment office employees who were cut by the Bevin administration.
Beshear said state officials are reviewing bids from contractors to rebuild the system.
“That of course is the most necessary thing. But it’s going to take a significant amount of time to get it in place,” Beshear said.
Beshear didn’t say when the new system could be implemented.
Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, said at a legislative hearing on Feb. 24 that the overhaul would not be in place until mid-2023.
