SALEM, Ore. — For just about anyone, losing a job is a stressful prospect in and of itself. It can mean struggling to pay rent, cover bills or buy groceries — particularly for those without enough rainy day savings set aside.
Unemployment benefits are intended to fill that gap, providing funds that workers can draw on to tide them over. But in Oregon, receiving those benefits may be easier said than done, adding stress upon stress.
The Oregon Employment Department says it's made progress in helping people sign up for its new online claims system. But Governor Tina Kotek and ordinary Oregonians who contact the KGW newsroom practically every day say the state agency is not doing enough.
OED rolled out the new platform, Frances Online, in March. It's been in the works for several years and was intended to replace the agency's outdated system from the '90s. Many Oregonians will remember less-than-fondly how that old system contributed to a meltdown during the early months of the pandemic, as thousands of out-of-work Oregonians sought benefits. Slowdowns lasted far beyond that.
RELATED (2021): It took more 19 months, but you can finally reach the Oregon Employment Department by phone
Frances Online is the same system used by the new Paid Leave Oregon program, which launched last September but was dogged by complaints from families who waited months to receive benefits well into this year.
Even though the new system at OED was supposed a vast improvement over the old, plenty of people are still having issues with it.
"I have been out of work since March and have done all the necessary steps to collect benefits and have not received a single payment," Aaron wrote to KGW's The Story. "The unemployment department just keeps sending me messages saying they are processing my weekly claims ... meanwhile, we are going broke while nothing happens, and it is impossible to talk to an actual person."
"I dialed over 400 times one day trying to reach someone and couldn't even get into the holding queue; the line was busy the whole day," wrote Justin. "I called again, right at opening (to the second, at 8:00 a.m.), and the line was already busy!"
"I dialed again for an hour and finally got through and was put on hold for 2 hours and 45 minutes," Aaron said, picking his story back up. "Then, I was going to be transferred to a specialist ... The next estimated hold time was 4 hours and 45 minutes; after about 30 minutes on hold, the line just hung up! I tried to call back, and, of course, the line was busy."
Gov. Tina Kotek addressed the ongoing issues during a press conference late last week.
"It is one of those things that I've been really not happy about, and we've had conversations directly with the department about this," Kotek said. "What I've said to the agency is we have to do better. I don't want to read any more stories about someone who can't pay the rent and is going to lose their housing. That would be counterintuitive to what we're trying to achieve."
'IT'S JUST A DEBACLE': Many Oregonians experiencing problems with new unemployment filing system
OED itself has refused to do any interviews or directly answer questions about the issues. But in a press release last week, they said that the new computer system is working as intended.
The agency said that it had paid about $111 million in benefits in the nine weeks after the Frances Online system launched, and they'd processed about 30,000 claims a week for the preceding six weeks. They claimed that 93% of people are able to use the system successfully.
The problems that persist, OED said, predate Frances Online. Long phone wait times and delays in getting claims approved are the result of staffing shortages, which the agency attributed to chronic federal underfunding of the unemployment system.
Kotek said that the state legislature approved funding for OED to add new staff but added that the agency needs to give her a better plan to address the ongoing issues.
"The legislature did allow for more money at the employment department; they're up to hiring 70 new staff to help with the backlogs to get people through," the governor said. "The numbers are improving, but not up to my satisfaction, and we're continuing to work hard with the agency ... like, we need to see some new ideas in addition to getting those staff on board.
"So, I wish I had a better answer today. I want people to know I'm not happy; I don't want people left behind. I lived through the pandemic as the (Oregon House Speaker) when we had a lot of people who couldn't get help. I want to make sure people are getting the benefits they need, and we're still working on it."
OED's statement said that they are also working on adjusting staff workflow in order to address the problems, adding overtime hours for some staff. They added that they plan to improve the way they communicate to people filing claims and looking for answers by updating their messaging to the public to be clearer, as well as providing more detailed information as to why claims are being reviewed.
The agency provided some hard numbers as evidence that things are improving. The average time for an employee to handle an unemployment-related call has gone from 17 minutes to 11, suggesting they can get to more calls. The average number of items employees can complete in the Frances system went from 3.3 items an hour to 6.8.
The average time for employees to resolve an issue with a claim once they start working on it has gone from nine days down to two, OED said.