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THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Help for Unemployment Claims

 
Dorothy Philbin | CNBNews
 
 
TRENTON, NJ (April 27, 2022)(CNBNewsnet)--In New Jersey the Democrats and Republicans are actually working together on the unemployment problem.  They might as well hold up signs reading "election year, our friends and we want your vote."
 
Many State Senators have formed a new committee to investigate the Department of Labor have said the same things.  The residents they represent, every single one, complained that they never got through on the phone and no one ever called them back. They heard everyday "There is no one [at the Dept of Labor] to talk to. After weeks of being ignored the claimants would go to their state Images-3 representatives for help.  State Senator Michael Testa (R-CM) claims to have helped thousands and thousands of people and finally had to dedicate staff just to do the job of the Department of Labor.
 
State Senator Joseph Langana (D-Paramas) agreed, saying his office became a satellite office for the Department of Labor.  His staff members were helping people complete applications and then forwarding the completed applications to the Department of Labor.  All senators who were interviewed said they were treated no better or respectfully than the people they were trying to help.
 
The members off the State Senate went to Governor Phil Murphy (who is not running for re-election but has announced he plans to run for President in 2024.)   They asked for his help and complained about the job the Commissioner of the Department of Labor, Robert Asaro-Angelo, had done.*  Governor Murphy replied that improving unemployment technology "is a waste" without the federal upgrades.  In political terms that is called Passing The Buck.
 
Commissioner Asaro-Angelo, who services at the pleasure of the governor, testified before the state commission.  Senator Kristin Corado (R-Totowa) asked him to resign.  He not only refused but belittled the problem the people have dealt with over the past two years.  He said his department "did everything it could."  He referred to those with problems as "a small percentage of the population" and that small percentage "is not representative of the whole."**  Mr. Asaro-Angelo had the audacity to say that there is a red flag.  "Many of the 529,000 [backlog] could be attempted fraudulent claims.***  He added that on the average day the department received 12,476 phone call connects and the average wait time was three minutes.  What he didn't say is the three minute wait time was until the voice mail told the caller to call back on the next business day.  And the 12,476 daily calls?  That was due to people calling on the next business day as instructed.
 
So, everyone is back to work and the problems should be soon solved.  Right? Originally the state employees were supposed to be back to work on September 7, 2021. Then that changed to October 8, 2021.  Somewhere around that time employees were required to be in the office at least two days a week and could report on a hybrid basis until January 10, 2022.****  Now Commissioner Asaro-Angelo says that all employees are back in the offices - except some.  Suddenly there are office construction problems which will prevent some employees from returning to the office. He offered no end date to these construction problems.  Co-incidently, the Communications Workers of America (CWA Local 1032) issued a letter to its members on August 8, 2021 stating that some of their members wanted to work from home and the union was working with the state to make this happen.  There was no further information on this issue, just construction problems.
 
All of us in this benefit maze need a lot of intervention and regardless of this being an election year or not, we'll take any help we can get.  However, getting help from the governor or the commissioner does not look promising.
 
As a note, there are two different estimates of the number of state employees.  One source said 64,000 state employees and the other said 70,000 employees.  Couldn't we transfer a few to the Department of Labor until the backlog is cleared?
 
_______________________________
 *       Austin American Statesman, 3/21/22, Katie Sobkin ([email protected])
**       nj.com/news/2012/12
***      www.nj.gov/labor/wdhome/press  4/25/2022
 
 

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