Jobless want state to end backlog, pay benefits now

May 6—Jobless workers upset over the state's delay in ruling on their unemployment compensation claim are expected to join forces with a group of state legislators in a protest Thursday in downtown Pittsburgh. They will gather outside the governor's regional office to demand they get benefits while awaiting a decision on their claims.

"We are asking them to pay people now while they are awaiting a decision by the (unemployment insurance) examiners," said Barney Oursler, director of the Pittsburgh-based Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, which has organized the protest.

Several state legislators, including Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-North Hills, and Rep. Nick Pisciottano, D-West Mifflin, are expected join labor leaders at the protest planned for 1 p.m. outside Piatt Place, 301 Fifth Ave.

To reduce the backlog, the Labor & Industry department is increasing access to unemployment staff by hiring 500 to 1,000 customer service representatives, with the first phase taking effect soon, said Sarah DeSantis, a labor department spokeswoman. An easier-to-use modern computer system that will go online in June will make claims processing faster and easier for staff, helping to speed up the determination process, DeSantis said.

While some claims still will require manual review, the decreased time needed to review each claim will result in an overall reduction in wait time, DeSantis said.

Even with the reported hiring in March of 72 more examiners, Oursler said it could take six months before they plow through the backlog.

"They are getting overwhelmed," Oursler said.

With a backlog of close to 300,000 claims, some of the jobless have been waiting for months for a determination on their case, Oursler said.

Under the current system, the benefits are held up to avoid any overpayment to workers who are later found to be ineligible. If Pennsylvania paid those claimants and then the unemployment compensation referee decides they are not eligible for the benefits, the state may be required to repay the money to the federal government, DeSantis said.

The unemployment insurance referee's decision is crucial for the claim to move through the system, Oursler said. If the referee finds them ineligible, the ruling will allow them to file an appeal.

Based on a review of the Labor & Industry report on the backlog, Oursler said it has grown in January from about 207,000 claimants — about 110,000 of whom are self-employed and gig workers — to close to 289,000.

DeSantis said his figure is misleading without context.

"The majority of these claims are PUA claims filed by fraudsters, which will never receive payment," DeSantis said, using the term for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Within the regular unemployment compensation system, only 39,000 claims are awaiting payment, and this figure includes duplicate claims and claims for which people never requested a payment, DeSantis said.

To further put the 289,000 figure into context, 5.6 million initial claims have been filed for the unemployment compensation or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programs, which is less than 5.4 percent of all claims received during the pandemic across all programs, she said.

While about three-fourths of determinations on claims were written in less than three weeks before the pandemic, to have every claim determined in under three weeks during record-high unemployment claims is unrealistic, DeSantis said.

To make the decision faster, DeSantis said, "would foster an environment that would allow fraud to flourish and taxpayer money to be used irresponsibly."

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .