Phone system problems stall unemployment claims

POSTED: 11:40 MST Tuesday, November 18, 2008

by IBR Staff

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Tags - employment, Idaho Department of Labor, insurance

Technical difficulties with the Idaho Department of Labor’s phone system are making it difficult for customers to file weekly continued unemployment insurance claims, the department said in a statement.

“Our goal is to make sure everyone entitled to a benefit check receives the full amount due them in a timely manner,” department Director Roger Madsen said.

Technicians are working in concert with Cisco Systems, which provides the phone system, to resolve the problems. If people are having trouble filing a claim over the phone, they should file online if they have Internet access, or they can go to their nearest local office and file in person.

This situation has been exacerbated by a $400,000 reduction in the federal administrative grant the department receives from the U.S. Department of Labor to operate the unemployment insurance program. This resulted in the department’s inability to fill vacant positions for network engineers.

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