Following the negative impact COVID-19 has had on the state’s economic and business climate, Rep. Jason Ortitay (R-Washington/Allegheny) recently introduced legislation to amend the backlog of unemployment claims due to Gov. Tom Wolf’s state of emergency closure.
“Millions of Pennsylvanians lost their jobs when businesses were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ortitay said. “To add insult to injury, many people have struggled to receive unemployment payments they deserve and have exhausted all of their savings. Four months into this pandemic the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry continues to have a substantial backlog of claims. I’m hopeful by adding temporary staff and making upgrades we can finally become current with requests.”
House Bill 2690 seeks to use $20 million from the federal CARES Act funding to hire temporary employees and pay for expenses related to information management, communications technology, and other infrastructure components within the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry unemployment compensation division.
Additionally, a Republican House delegation from Bucks County recently issued a letter to House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) to establish an investigation into the failure of the Unemployment Compensation program. The delegation specifically requests the House Government Oversight Committee conduct the investigation.
The House members argued that individuals who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic have also fallen victim to an outdated and obsolete Unemployment Compensation System. They are asking the committee to not only look at what caused the failure, but also what changes need to be put in place.
“Our district offices have dealt with hundreds if not thousands of constituents who have applied for unemployment, and many have yet to collect benefits or receive a resolution to filing claims. Daily, constituents call to request assistance with claims dating back to March. In addition, we have had many constituents call regarding fraudulent claims, as they received checks for claims they did not apply for; they are concerned about identity theft and how this may impact their income taxes in 2020,” they said in the letter.