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Margaret Wells worked in retail in Louisville and has been
unemployed since April. She has not been able to get anyone on
the phone to answer questions about the status of her
application for benefits. She has three kids and drove about an
hour to come to the clinic. “I just need to talk to someone,
that’s all I came all this way to do,” she said.
States have been overwhelmed with the tens of millions of
unemployment insurance benefits claims filed during the crisis,
with the surge in demand crashing computer systems, clogging
phone lines and creating backlogs of pending applications.
Though more than 20 million Americans are currently receiving
checks, many others have been unable to access their benefits,
and struggle to pay for food and rent.
Kentucky opened the temporary unemployment benefits office on
Tuesday afternoon to help people resolve problems filing their
claims, and on Wednesday Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said it
would stay open through this week. "No one in state government
will be happy until every resident has the benefits they
deserve," he said in a press conference.
Whitney Jackson came from Lexington, about an hour's drive away.
Her last day at work was March 6, before the university where
she worked closed for spring break. It never reopened. When
Jackson tried to file for unemployment insurance, she was not
able to upload the documents to verify her identity. So when she
heard that the state would offer in-person help, she said, "at 5
o'clock this morning, I was up and ready."
After waiting in line for hours, it was a successful visit. "I
got my money!" she said afterwards.
(Reporting by Bryan Woolston, writing by Ann Saphir; Editing by
David Gregorio)
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