The Connecticut Department of Labor is on target to open its new consumer contact center by mid-July and has made significant progress with the handling of the hundreds of thousands of unemployment insurance claims it has received as a result of the pandemic, Labor Commissioner Kurt Westby said.
The consumer contact center, supported by $4 million in federal funding, is a new project that will increase the number of customer service representatives available. It will also improve capacity by putting more communications platforms in use for customers, Westby said.
Currently, the department has about 100 customer service representatives that are shifted between state and federal programs, along with about 40 staff answering phone calls.
The consumer contact center will add 60 customer service representatives that can continue to work with applicants via phone and email, but it also adds text, chat, call back, and virtual assistant features. Federal funding for the consumer contact center is available through the end of the year.
“We are still seeing an unprecedented number of claims applications,” Westby said. “The consumer contact center will help us more quickly get benefits out to people while still protecting the system from fraud and criminal activity.
“Of the applications that we hold, more than 50% contain claimant errors,” he said. “Starting mid-July, we will have more customer service representatives available to help people make corrections and handle the applications that are in verification for other reasons.”
The Labor Department has processed 617,296 of the 635,772 applications it has received, the commissioner said. Claims processing time is now down to one to two weeks from about six weeks during the height of the pandemic.
Since March 13, the department has disbursed $900 million in state unemployment benefits; $75 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance; $38 million in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation for individuals who have exhausted regular unemployment insurance benefits; and $1.76 billion in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, the $600 additional weekly benefit that expires July 25.
This is a few months late.
I applied 3mrhs ago, have yet to receive anything and my status had been “awaiting separation varification with employer” for about 2mths…why can’t CT just tell truth that they dont have the money to pay out. People are still waiting for their income tax refunds and soon the ridiculously high property tax on autos is due…
VERY POORLY RUN SYSTEM SHOULD FIRE AND REPLACE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THIS FIASCO.3 MONTHS STILL WAITING FOR ALTERNATE BASE PERIOD AND FIRST CHECK.