An obsolete computer system unable to deal with a crush of claims and calls due to the COVID-19 pandemic is causing delays in many claimants getting paid, the official in charge of the department responsible for processing and paying unemployment claims told a state Senate committee Thursday.
“I understand the frustration. I look at the numbers, and I hurt for these people, too,” Scott Murakami, director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations told the Senate Special Committee on COVID-19.
Murakami said “system degradations” became apparent on March 18, as thousands of laid-off and furloughed workers rushed online and took to the phones to file for jobless benefits and ask questions.
Since March 1, 207,126 jobless claims have been filed statewide, Murakami said.
Hawaii County residents have filed 13,530 new joblessness claims between March 22 and April 4, according to the DLIR. Of the new Big Island jobless claims, 8,262 were filed in the Kona office, 4,303 of them last week. New filings at the Hilo office in the two-week time period total 5,268, with 2,760 of those claims filed last week.
The visitor and hospitality industries have been hit particularly hard, as have retail outlets not deemed essential in Gov. David Ige’s emergency order.
Inde Coggins, vice president of Splashers Grill, said the restaurant and bar suspended operations on March 18 “for the health and safety of our team and community.”
“We furloughed the entire staff, after giving them all perishable inventory and prepped food — 74 people,” Coggins said. “We completed the (employer’s form) as requested by unemployment, and all of my staff have been trying to file for unemployment.”
She said that as of Tuesday, none had received payment, and many became scared and desperate, especially with rent for most that came due on April 1.
Murakami said the Unemployment Insurance Division brought in 76 new workers to field calls and input data from the new online claim forms that don’t feed into the overloaded mainframe computer, but training was an issue, and an expanded call center started to tax the bandwidth of the carrier.
DLIR spokesman William Kunstman said that as of Wednesday, 194,936 unemployment benefit filings were “successfully ingested” into the system.
“We have noticed a downward trend of the number of filings coming in over the last five days or so,” Kunstman said.
Local unemployment offices are closed to walk-in traffic and, according to Murakami, there are limits as to what can be done manually “in a pandemic situation.”
Some filers have started to receive their checks, but Murakami couldn’t tell lawmakers how many or how long it took the department to pay those whose new claims have been approved.
And with the passage of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, claimants are eligible for an additional 13 weeks of benefits on top of the existing 26 weeks, as well as an extra $600 weekly for up to four months.
“At what point will these filers and these individuals receive the added amount from the federal government, and what date can they expect their checks to include the additional amounts?” Sen. Donna Mercado Kim asked Murakami.
“For the $600 plus … and the additional 13 weeks, the claimant won’t have to file anything,” Murakami replied. “… But for right now, we’re just trying to get the original claims through. It’s really hard. At this point, I can’t make a guess as to when that’s going to happen. Sorry, I wish I could provide claimants with a better answer than that.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
