LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than 40,000 Kentuckians are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits, but state officials say many of them are under investigation, which slows down the process.
Natalie Mcelroy of Louisville is one of those still waiting.
“I started working until the pandemic happened which, in March, I was furloughed from the job,” Mceroy told WDRB News.
Mcelroy said she was receiving benefits for a while, but then was told her claim was under investigation. She said she was never told why.
“At first it told me identification purposes, so I sent them a copy of my ID and social security card, and still no results. They never got back with me,” she said.
“When a claim is under investigation, it could be for a whole host of different things,” said Amy Cubbage, Gov. Andy Beshear’s general counsel and unemployment point person.
Cubbage said, right now, there are 25 claims investigators.
“That is now comparable to what it was before the pandemic hit,” she said.
But Cubbage said the number of cases under investigation is straining the system.
“For a short time, we tried to bring in additional people,” Cubbage said. “It takes six months to a year to get someone up to speed, normally, to be a claims investigator.”
Cubbage said outside contractor Ernst and Young did help.
But Beshear continues to blame an outdated computer system and complex unemployment laws for the continuing backlog.
“It was set up to be such a pain in the butt by the federal government that most people give up, and that's the climate we find ourselves in,” said Beshear.
But Mcelroy, who said she is getting by on food stamps and family generosity, said she does not plan to give up.
“I'm going to be patient with them, but I just really want some results. If they say they can help out, that would be great.”
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