Tech chief briefs senators about progress on fixing beleaguered unemployment filing system

KELSEY WALLING/Tribune-Herald The Hilo unemployment office is closed indefinitely. To file a claim online, visit https://huiclaims.hawaii.gov/#/.

The state’s tech chief briefed the state Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 Monday on what’s being done to alleviate an outmoded and overloaded computer system handling unemployment claims, while the committee unloaded on the governor’s chief of staff about the pace of repurposing idled state employees to help take phone calls for the Unemployment Insurance Division.