Kentuckians wait in line for hours as state works to process overdue unemployment benefits

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- It looked like the line at a theme park: Fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, all waiting hours.

But Wednesday's crowd in Frankfort was not amused. They're tired of the ride that is Kentucky unemployment.

"We're hard-working individuals," said Kayla Williams, who came from LaRue County. "We deserve our money, and we shouldn't have to come out here and stand in the heat for someone to hear our voice."

“I call and call and nothing," unemployed transmission technician Cody Aldridge said. " It’s tough I got a kid and one on the way and we're trying to prepare.”

Aldridge and Williams joined the masses waiting outside the Capitol, trying to get face-to-face help with their unemployment. The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the commonwealth's system with too many claims and too few people to process them. This week, Gov. Andy Beshear said of nearly 900,000 claims, 52,000 are still pending from March to May.

The state opened the in-person center after news of a planned protest Tuesday. Beshear announced Wednesday that additional in-person services will be offered Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services headquarters in Frankfort.

Those whose claims were filed in March will be given priority and a separate line to speak to someone face-to-face, he said.

The Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and Labor Cabinet are working to determine additional dates and locations for in-person services, he said.

"While more unemployment benefits have been provided during this period than every before, more claims have been processed, people are hurting and I know it," Beshear said. "Our inability to help everybody as quickly as we've needed to is unacceptable, but we're going to continue to work."

"We're all in this together," Williams said. "We fell through the cracks on unemployment. Kentucky has failed us for unemployment, and it's a shame — a complete shame."

The crowd put down their signs, opting for the unemployment payoff instead.

"You have adjudicators, people that can make things happen, sitting here today in the Education Center at the state Capitol, that are fixing people's problems while they're sitting there," Rep. Joe Graviss said.

The line wrapped all around the Capitol parking lot. Just before noon, there were about 500 people. Doors opened at 9 a.m., and by 9:45 a.m. Kentucky State Police had cut it off, saying they couldn't serve any more people. Deborah McLaughlin got the last spot.

"This month, my 19-year-old daughter and best her friend split the rent," McLaughlin said.

James Barry drove nearly four hours from Paducah but didn't make it in time.

"I'm pretty angry, very angry," he said. "I filed March 27."

And like that ride at the amusement park, for some, the wait is worth it.

"I should get it by the end of the week," Williams said after nearly five hours in line. "I feel pretty great. I hate that we all had to come out here and stand in this long line to get our answers and get our voice heard, but guess what? It's been heard. And my kids don't have to worry about if they have a roof over their head."

For others, it is not.

"They're going to make a decision on the claim, blah blah blah, someone should reach out to me within a week," Aldridge said after not getting the instant approval he'd hoped for.

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