Labor Secretary says they're triaging old unemployment claims, launching new tools

The Maryland Department of Labor has received over 660,000 new unemployment claims since March 8, which is more than triple what the agency received in all of 2019.

IT HAS BECOME THE BIGGESTFRUSTRATION IN THISPANDEMIC...FILING FORUNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

ANOTHER4━ THOUSAND PEOPLE FILED INMARYLAND LAST WEEK.

TODAY &WMA━2 NEWS MALLORY SOFASTAIISPOKE WITH THE SECRETARY OFLABOR ABOUT HOW HER AGENCY ISWORKING TO HELP MARYLANDERSREBOUND.WEADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY FEATURESCOULD BE HOURS OR DAYS AWAY..BUT THERECLAIMANTS WHO FILED IN MARCHAND EARLY APRIL AND HAVE YETTO RECEIVE THEIR BENEFITS.ITNEW CLAIMS. NEARLY 4━THOUSAND LAST WEEK & 66━THOUSAND SINCE MARCH 8TH.THATTHE STATE RECEIVED IN ALL OF2019.CENTERS WOULD BE FLOODED..

BUTFOR MANYIS THE KEY TO GETTING MONEYTHEY DESPERATELY NEED.

JasonMacWilliams 1:18 and itpretty much an impossibletask, I have called thousandsof times like many otherpeople, I have emailedhundreds of times:10 MARYLANSECRETARY OF LABOR TIFFANYROBINSON SAYING TODAY..

MOREPEOPLE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GETTHROUGH TO SOMEONE SOON WHENPHONE LINES INCREASE FROM 200TO 540 Tiffany Robinson,Maryland Secretary of Labor3:40 theyadditional testing on thattoday, Iupdate probably tomorrow whenthatTheyphases.

Obviously, I donwant to launch something thatweready to go:14 THE NEWINTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSSYSTEM WILL HAVE ADDEDFEATURES FOR FILING WEEKLYCERTIFICATIONS, RESETTINGPINS, AND CHATTING WITH AREPRESENTATIVE TR: 6:12 webe able to have our claimantshave access to live chatfeatures with anyone they needto talk to while we havesomeone on the phone but whilepeople are on hold theyalso have that option to workwith the virtual agent, whichis a bot that is searchingthrough hundreds of thousandsof questions and answersMEANWHILEWEEKS OR MONTHS FOR A PHONEINTERVIEW AND ARE WONDERINGWHAT7:30 itso just like if you were in acar accident, the claimantinformation comes in and thenyou have to go and get theother details involved in thecase and get the police reportand make sure the data issyncing up.

HUNDREDSTHOUSANDS OF CLAIMS HAVE BEENPAID BUT THE NUMBER OF CLAIMSSTILL PENDING ADJUDICATION ISSOMEWHERE IN THE TENS OFTHOUSANDS ACCORDING TOROBINSON.

TR: 15:21 we arelooking to triage the oldeclaims so we can geteverything cleared from Marchand April and show people weare working forward:08 ASOMEWHAT PROMISING STATEMEFOR CLAIMANTS STILL STUCK INTHE PAST JM: 1:24 ithelpless, hopeless situationto where I feel like I caneven get 5 minutes on the phonewith someone who has theunderstanding to help fix myproblem:15 WHEN ASKED HOW SPLANS TO MORE EFFECTIVELYCOMMUNICATE WITH CLAIMANTS..ROBINSON SAID THEYAT WAYS OF DOING THIS IN THEBEACON PORTAL..

AND SHE HASNDECLINED ANY REQUEST FROMLEGISLATORS FOR A PHONE CALL,UPDATE, OR HEARINGYOU CAN SEE THE FULL INTE