Jason Caputo: Hello and welcome you're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast series, where hear all about how the Department helps Alaskan jobseekers, businesses and communities. Today we're going to be talking about unemployment insurance, a very important topic in these very challenging times. My name is Jason Caputo and my guest today is Taylor West. Taylor is an investigator with the division of unemployment insurance. Thanks so much for joining us today and answering some of these questions. We know it's very difficult for folks right now we also know that the division of unemployment insurance has been doing everything you can to try and process and give services as quickly as possible. I even heard back in April you guys pulled in retirees from all different divisions in an in an all hands on deck effort. So I know it's a tough time but we appreciate you taking some time to help people understand some of the issues that are happening, and also give some tips that may help them to get services and get their benefits. So thanks for joining me. Taylor West: Yes absolutely I appreciate you having me here and you know certainly anything we can do to assist the general public in any claimants we have trying to file for unemployment insurance so 'we can do to get some information out there. Jason Caputo: Thank you so I'm just gonna jump right into the questions. You know some of these are questions that are frequently asked by some of our customers. So if someone has a claim that says they have a quote active issue. Jason Caputo: What exactly does that mean? Taylor West: An issue is a circumstance which under state law is potentially disqualifying. Taylor West: Claims center staff needs to investigate these issues and determine if you're eligible for benefits or if you'll be disqualified we don't pay benefits until that issue has been decided, so that an overpayment doesn't occur. Jason Caputo: Okay great and when we talk about issues what are some of those issues. Taylor West: Yes, there is there can be a wide variety, of issues that occur on an individual's claim if you answer yes to traveling. Taylor West: If you're not available for work, you quit your job, or you were terminated, those are issues that need to be investigated by claims center staff. You may be eligible for benefits, you may not be and this is what we need to determine. Taylor West: Whenever we make a decision on your claim regarding one of these issues you'll be mailed a written determination. So that way you have something special in writing from our office, if you're allowed under that issue then payment will be released if you're otherwise eligible. Jason Caputo: Okay, got it, well that makes perfect sense. So how long do people generally have to wait until something like that is resolved. Taylor West: It largely depends on the type of issue at hand. If it's a deductible income it may take longer to process because we also need to gather information from your employer, and we need to provide a reasonable time frame to obtain that information. If you voluntarily quit, or were discharged from your job, then we place a hold on your benefits, due to a potential six week penalty. Most other issues though, are addressed in a quicker time frame, because we only need to obtain information from you the client, but it can vary pretty widely. Jason Caputo: Okay all right so you're doing basically the essential things that you have to do, but when there's not a lot of those essential things, that you have to do. It can it can happen quicker, so is there anything that people can do to help get them their benefits quicker. Taylor West: So the best thing a claimant can do to make sure they get their benefits on time is fill out their online applications completely. Don't leave any of the information blank, if there's an opportunity where they can write in specific information about their claim, we encourage them to write in in detail. You don't need to call the claims center specifically, regarding any issue that comes up on your claim. Taylor West: We'll call you if we need additional information so. We'll always make the effort to reach out to you directly. Another thing claimants can do, is make sure they answer their phone, and that they have a voicemail set up, so if we're not able to get a hold of you directly, we can leave you a voice mail. And then that way you can call us directly, at that specific representatives number. If you do receive a voicemail, call that number and they'll be able to assist you in getting that issue closed as quickly as possible. Jason Caputo: Okay, all right, great, so make sure you fill out that online form completely. Make sure you have a voicemail set up, so that they can contact you and leave a message for you. Great, and speaking of phones, I know a lot of people are trying to get through on the phone to talk to unemployment insurance. We hear that it is difficult. So why are they having difficulty getting through to unemployment insurance on the phone. Taylor West: The unemployment insurance claim center answers an average of fourteen hundred calls a day. And upwards of eighteen hundred calls a day during our busiest times. We're busier at the beginning of the week. People get notified over the weekend, and then everyone calls in on Monday. It then that kind of tapers off towards the end of the week. But it's certainly busiest on Mondays. Our phone system has to have a limit on the number of calls that we can allow in. The claim center answers phones from nine AM until roughly five thirty PM Monday through Friday. Excluding holidays, so if an individual is attempting to call in and if they can't get through directly we encourage them to continue to try and call in. Calling right at nine AM when the queue opens gives individuals the best opportunity to get through and placed into the queue before that queue fills up. Jason Caputo: Okay another question that we hear a lot is why someone can't just get placed into a queue when they call, and be placed on hold, or leave their information and get a call back. Taylor West: So the claim center does have a call back and hold service available, but what happens is when an individual calls in, if that queue is full, we have a limited number of calls that we can have come in at a given time. If that queue is full it doesn't allow individuals that option to be placed on hold or leave a call back number. If it's not full then they get placed in the queue and individual can wait to speak with a claims center representatives. Our phone lines stop taking incoming calls at four PM and it takes us another hour to an hour and a half, maybe even two hours, depending on the day of the week, to answer the calls that are already waiting. We continue to hire and train staff to assist us to we can increase the number of calls we take per-day, about right now just based on our current staffing levels that's about where we're at. Jason Caputo: Okay understood, and you know when someone calls in they're going to have a pretty long recording that they hear. So why the long recording, especially if someone can't just be put on hold. Taylor West: We're required by law to provide specific information each time an individual calls. And the claim center is much more efficient rather than a claim taker reading that information to you. By placing that information in an automated message each time someone calls and it's actually helping us to decrease the amount of time that representatives have to spend on the phone with individual claimants, and again that's helping us increase the number of calls we can take per day and the number of individuals we can assist. Jason Caputo: All right all, right that makes sense, yeah. That makes perfect sense now that you explain it like that. Even though it doesn't seem like it it's actually saving time. In the long run making sure there's more claims takers available, to process all this and the things that they're saying I'm assuming which are required by law on the recording are things that you don't need to inform people about specific legal requirements. So it's not something we choose to do, we have to do it by law. Jason Caputo: Now let's move on to another topic and I'm gonna first ask you know what this acronym means it's P. E. U. C.. Taylor West: So P. E. U. C. stands for pandemic emergency unemployment compensation it was originally passed in early 2020 specifically in response to the corona virus pandemic and it's just another option for individuals filing for unemployment insurance. Jason Caputo: Okay, great, so why can't someone file for extensions that are that are available for this online. Taylor West: So the different extension programs we have available like P. E. U. C. and extended benefits, those programs change extremely rapidly. Taylor West: Specifically in response to different legislation that's passed. With all the different extensions that we've had, and continue to have, we needed to complete the programming to allow individuals to file those online. It's simply quicker for us to have claims center staff, take and enter those extensions for claimants. Taylor West: There's a wide variety of circumstances that determined which extensions you're paid any given period of time.' By having a claim center staff specifically review your information, determine which extension you need to be placed on, and make sure the appropriate application is taken. It's again just another decision we've had to make to ensure that claimants are being serviced appropriately and that they're getting the best service we can offer. There's just so many different variables that won't allow for online applications. Jason Caputo: That's helpful to know because it's frustrating otherwise. If you didn't know the details, because it seems like it's something that could be done, but when you explain it like that, If you try to do something like that, where it was online, it would take so much time. It would be taking people much longer to get all this processed, and actually get the benefits. So that makes sense, that that's the reason you're doing it that way. So what about being able to reopen one of these extension programs online? Is that a similar kind of situation? Taylor West: The same reason. Jason Caputo: Yeah. Taylor West: Yeah absolutely so the applications for starting a claim and reopening a claim that has already been started are very similar, or regular employment insurance benefits they're extremely similar just a couple different questions that maybe aren't necessary in one situation they are in another. But for regular employment those are extremely similar. It's the same situation with P. E. U. C or on any other form of extended benefits. Because they're so similar it's just due to the efficiency of rolling up the programs. It's the best option for claimants, to simply have a claim center representative take that application with you. Jason Caputo: Great thanks for that information, so last question on this this kind of topic. I know some people might receive a letter saying that their benefits are about to exhaust and so they're trying to get through on the phone they can't get through on the phone. It could be a little stressful can you give them any advice about you know what's happening in that situation and what can they expect. Taylor West: So an individual is notified that their benefits have exhausted, or are about to exhaust, and if they're about to exhaust, we begin notifying individuals three weeks before they run out of their benefits. I'm certain individuals filing weekly we can typically track that pretty closely, and will know ahead of time when the individuals about to run out of benefits. So that's when we start notifying individuals. We send them automated notices that say, 'Hey you're about to run out of your benefits as of right now you have three weeks or less remaining' and then when they actually run out, they get another notice letting them know that they've officially run out of regular benefits. Once a claimant starts getting those notices from us, especially understanding that it's difficult to get through to the claims center currently, we advise start trying to call the claim center immediately. So if they received that notice try, calling in and get a representative on the line, understanding you know that could take quite a while to actually get through to someone. Taylor West: We encourage individuals to continue completing their weekly certification. That form that they complete each week, to try to receive benefits, even if they've exhausted their benefits. We encourage them to continue completing those applications. Then claim center will accept an application for an extension program and enter it once you have a zero balance, if you haven't hit that point already. The new monetary determination will be mailed, and it'll show that your extension has been added, but essentially we notify you ahead of time, trying to call us right away, and we'll get that entered as quickly as we can. Jason Caputo: Yes very that's brilliant helpful tips for it for something that could be stressful for people so it's great to have that information on what to do. Jason Caputo: Let's let's go to a new topic as well. We get some questions about adjudicators. Jason Caputo: So for example when someone is told an adjudicator will be calling them and they haven't, why haven't they called them yet. Taylor West: So kind of reaching back to those active issues that we were talking about, on the individual's claim if there's an issue on someone's claim, so for example if you're voluntarily quit your job, or you were terminated, a representative or an adjudicator needs to collect additional information from both you, and your employer. Those issues are worked in date order, from the oldest to the newest. They're worked in the order in which their received. The claim center staff is extremely backlogged due to the pandemic, but they are working those issues as fast as they can. Separations take quite a bit longer to process your information on, because again, information is gathered from two parties. They're not just one, so instead of just having to speak with the claimant about where they traveled to over the weekend, they actually need to get information from both them and the employer. Taylor West: They may need to ask additional questions of each side and get a reasonable amount of time to both sides to provide that information. So there's quite a few reasons an educator may not reach out to a representative already. But if you've been informed that by claims center staff, go and sit tight someone will reach out to you. Jason Caputo: Okay, you know in some of those situations, I can understand it may seem someone may question, you know do you really need this information? Jason Caputo: Sometimes it happened a long time ago why do you need that type of information? Taylor West: So the issue is on an individual's claim our issues that by state law we have to examine. By law, when a claim is filed the claimants last work has to be examined, to determine if the separation issue exists. Your former employer may also provide us with some information that you separated from work, and we need to investigate that. If it's somehow reported incorrectly, and then we hear different from the employer, that may cause an issue. Where we're looking at something that happened quite a while ago. We didn't know about it before but we find out about it later that can because those kind of delays. Jason Caputo: Right, okay, so again this is a common theme here. Jason Caputo: You have to do some of these things. Well number one you have to do because it's a law, and it's required. It's not something where you're making up there. And really the way you're doing it, is making the process actually go faster in this case. If you don't do it early on it can cause a lot of delays later on. Jason Caputo: So let's again let's switch to a new topic here, Key Bank and we have a few questions about Key Bank. One of frequent ones, why didn't someone received their Key Bank card. Taylor West: So the Key Bank card is the default way the unemployment insurance claim center issues payment out to individuals. Individuals also always have the opportunity to set up for direct deposit. But by default we simply use Key Bank. If an individual hasn't filed for unemployment insurance ever before, or it's been quite a long time since they filed. We'll go ahead and just mail a Key Bank debit 'card if they don't set up for direct deposit right away. That way anytime we issue payment out that's where that payment will go. It'll just show up on that card. The cards we issued are valid for three years from the date they're issued from KeyBank. So if you've had a prior debit card and hasn't expired we won't automatically re issue you a card unless you specifically contact the claim center and request one. Taylor West: If you haven't had a payment to your card in over a year, if you call the number on the back of that card to reactivate it Key Bank temporarily deactivates those if there isn't any activity there Jason Caputo: Okay what happens if someone you know for one reason or another if they didn't keep their card they don't have it anymore? Taylor West: Yes certainly so that's a common one, where we see, you know an individual was filing for unemployment insurance they stop, they don't believe that they need those resources anymore, so they're either you know destroyed or misplaced, one reason or another. If that does happen to a client we always request that they just contact the claim center, and request a new card. A claim center representative can get that taken care of pretty quickly. We just reach out to Key Bank and then they send you a new one. Jason Caputo: Okay, and they could find that the claim center number on their website. Taylor West: Correct on the website. If they're already filing for unemployment insurance statements and unemployment insurance claim and handbook the numbers are also located in there. Jason Caputo: Great now if someone did ask for a replacement card and they haven't received it what are some of the reasons that might happen? Taylor West: So if they haven't received it it's usually just a time frame issue it takes two to three weeks to receive a new card if it's been any more than that we request individual reach back out to the claim center to follow up directly. Jason Caputo: Okay, and I think there's an option for an expedited card, what happens if they haven't gotten expedited card that they requested. Taylor West: Yes, an expedited card is a feature Key Bank allows us to offer if they haven't received an expedite a card, again probably the same issue just a matter of timing. There even if they're expedited, they can still take anywhere from seven to ten business days to arrive. So quite a bit faster than the standard method, but you know still does take some time there, and then same situation if it's past that period, and they still haven't received that card, we want them to call the claims center and again we can certainly follow up for him. Jason Caputo: Okay that's all the questions I have about Key Bank, and now I just have some miscellaneous questions about different things that people often ask. We know you guys often get these questions. One example is sometimes people it might be convenient for them to have their claim backdated. Why can't that happen? Why can't a check be backdated? Taylor West: So that's another issue where we're pretty strictly bound by law. By law claims are affected the Sunday of the week the application is submitted to us, and they can't automatically be backdated. They have to contact us directly to backdate a claim. They would just have to again speak with a claims center representative about that issue and they'll be assisted directly. Jason Caputo: Okay so that's again that's not a division of unemployment insurance rule that's that's a law that that we're bound by, okay. Jason Caputo: Another very frequent question is, when if someone hasn't already, when are they gonna get the six hundred dollar payment? Taylor West: So the six hundred dollar payment was part of the stimulus and it's not payable directly from unemployment insurance. Jason Caputo: Okay. Taylor West: The different programs that are payable from unemployment insurance are things called F. P. U. C. or Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. What that is it's a three hundred dollar per week payments payable to those who receive unemployment insurance extensions or PUA 'Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Essentially if an individual is filing for one of our own employment programs and they're eligible for benefits in a given week, they should also be receiving that additional three hundred dollars that week. This was effective when you filed for benefits the week ending January second 2021. So essentially the first week ending in 2021 that's when that program started, and it's automatically added to each week paid with their currently filing for unemployment insurance they should be getting that three hundred dollars per week. On top of what they would normally collect from their benefits. Jason Caputo: Great thanks for clearing that up. Now here's another very stressful situation that that hopefully you have some advice for people. What if someone has COVID-19 and they can't work what can they do. Taylor West: So if an individual is actively employed and they contract COVID-19 notify your employer. That's the best thing you can do in that specific circumstance. Make sure you get them aware as quickly as possible and work with your employer directly and what your options are. Taylor West: File claim if you haven't already go online. Taylor West: Complete a claim for unemployment insurance benefits if you haven't already, as you may be eligible for benefits. COVID-19 does create one of those potential issues we had talked about before so it is something that will have to be reviewed otherwise if you do already have an existing claim just make sure you notify the unemployment office so again they can start that review process for you. Jason Caputo: Great that's important tips for people. Now there's a term that is used frequently in these situations, tell us what a 'base period' is it can be confusing for some people. Taylor West: So a base period is a term we use to clarify the time frame that we're looking at to determine what an individual is eligible for. For unemployment insurance benefits. So a base period is a time period of eighteen months that we use to determine your eligibility, essentially the past eighteen months from whenever you filed your unemployment claim. Taylor West: The wages you earned in covered employment during that time period determine your monetary eligibility so whatever your weekly benefit amount would be. Taylor West: A regular base period if we want to get specific in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the effective date of their new claim. Taylor West: But again much more generally it's just the past eighteen months. Jason Caputo: Okay thanks for clarifying that. Now we're on our last question, and again some one of those things that can be somewhat frustrating, so really glad that you're here to kind of explain this to people, what's going on, so let's say someone has been allowed to file a claim, and yet they're still not getting paid what can be going on in that situation. Taylor West: So there's a variety of different things that could be occurring there, but at a base level unemployment insurance is an eligibility based program, we will always accept a new claim that someone can file. Taylor West: They have to earn wages from covered employment during that base period that we had mentioned before, so they have to earn money. They have to have a total of gross income of over twenty five hundred dollars, and that has to have been earned over two calendar quarters of their base period. Taylor West: They must maintain their eligibility while receiving benefits through a variety of different methods. They have to be physically able and available for full time work, actively seeking and reporting weekly work searches, and registering for work if required. When an individual files for a new claim, they're informed of what they're filing requirements are so, they know what they need to do in order to receive benefits. Taylor West: If they're not getting benefits it could be determined that they weren't eligible for benefits for one reason or another. They may not have earned enough or one of those issues could be denying their benefits there's a variety of reasons there. Jason Caputo: Okay well that's that is a lot of fantastic information, and some tips on how people can get through this process a little easier. Jason Caputo: You have been listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast thank you Taylor West for talking about unemployment insurance with us today. We know that people can be having a very stressful time with all the things that are going on. Jason Caputo: We really thank you for coming and being transparent about some of the issues that people can face, and if they have questions and things like that a lot of the information that you shared can be found online at the website, and there's also again you referenced a unemployment insurance handbook, the people get at the start of this whole process. Jason Caputo: So thanks for listening and joining us we hope you found the show informative and you'll join us for our next podcast coming soon thank you.