‘There’s got to be an easier way’: Wilsonville woman still waiting on unemployment benefits months after losing job

Ariel Salk
2 min read
5

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Nearly two months after the launch of a new system at Oregon’s Employment Department, Oregonians are still struggling to get paid.

A Wilsonville woman owed thousands of dollars told KOIN 6 on Wednesday that she’s at the end of her rope.

Alaska Airlines grounded all planes in the US Wednesday morning

After months of paying her rent and bills on a credit card, April Harvey is coming to terms that if she doesn’t get the money from OED soon, she’ll have to move.

“That’s my rent, my car payment, my bill money. I’m paying for my groceries on my credit card,” Harvey said.

Harvey was considered an essential worker during the pandemic, but when she lost her job in January, she turned to the government for assistance.

“(I) was separated from my job on (Jan.) 23rd, and I got my last paycheck on the 24th, and I filed my first claim the previous or the next week after that,” she said.

Harvey has gone back and forth with OED trying to get her benefits including hours of waiting on the phone, with no success. She says when they transferred online systems from Worksource to Francis Online, her struggles worsened — she later found out the adjudicator assigned to her case was no longer assigned to her.

“What does that mean? Did they just cancel her? Or what happened? And they said, ‘oh, no, I think that she actually approved it, but she forgot to take off the holds for your checks,”‘ Harvey said. “There’s got to be an easier way to get this to flow easier, in my opinion… “I am really struggling to understand why this is so difficult.”

OED Director David Gerstenfeild has acknowledged failures at OED including long call times and claim processing.

Unfortunately, both of these were taking longer than we would like before rolling out Frances for (unemployment) benefits and remain that way,” he said.

OED has consistently blamed understaffing, saying they lost two-thirds of their staff in the last few years. In June, more funding is coming from the governor’s office.

“We’re not waiting until then. So we are actively recruiting now and we are going to hire and train people as quickly as possible,” Gerstenfeild said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.

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