With the release Thursday of weekly jobless claims from the U.S. Department of Labor, Illinois hit a milestone: Since mid-March, when the state’s stay-at-home order took effect, closing nonessential businesses and sending people home, more than 1 million residents of the state have applied for unemployment insurance benefits.
The state office that processes those applications says it has doubled the number of workers in call centers that assist those seeking jobless benefits.
Yet on social media and in calls to their elected representatives, applicants continue to complain about busy signals and other problems.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security has gone from 143 call center workers before the start of the pandemic to 318, including 145 workers brought in from Deloitte Consulting to help with the massive influx of applications, said spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco.
Cisco said another 55 Deloitte call center representatives will be phased in once their training is complete, though she could not give a date as to when that would happen.
Because applicants must provide “incredibly sensitive” information and because the unemployment system is complex, “extensive training” is required to learn how to take unemployment claims, provide information and answer questions, Cisco said.
The department processed more than a million initial claims between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019, state officials have said.
A data breach in the system for gig workers last week publicly exposed personal information, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during a news conference this week that the problem is being investigated.
Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, issued a news release Saturday night about a “possible massive data breach involving the private information of thousands of Illinois unemployment applicants.” A constituent contacted Bryant on Friday to say she “stumbled upon” personal information for thousands of unemployment applicants on the state website, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and unemployment claimant identification information, Bryant said.
In an interview, Bryant said her office gets six to 10 calls a day from people asking for help in getting through to the state’s unemployment security office. It received 12 this past Tuesday, Bryant said. “People are so frustrated they’re reaching out to their legislators,” she said.
She said the state’s system was not equipped to handle the number of applications, and while things have gotten better, many people are still having problems. “It’s been a mess from day one,” Bryant said.
Ian Lyons, 28, of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, said he has been trying to get benefits since April 1. Lyons had worked on Michael Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign, and was paid through March.
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Lyons created an online account, but was told that he had exhausted his benefits, though he had never collected unemployment insurance in Illinois.
Lyons said he would usually get a busy signal when he dialed the hotline. “When I did get through, about half the time I was immediately told via recording that they couldn’t take my call at this time, and to please file online,” Lyons said.
Lyons has appealed to Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat, for help, and the Department of Employment Security told her that he was eligible for benefits, Lyons said. But Lyons’ online account still shows that he’s ineligible.
“I’m continuing to try the hotline,” Lyons said.
A representative for Feigenholtz’s office was not immediately available for comment.
