Rep. Minicucci: Help Available for Unemployment Claims

Typographical errors and missed callbacks are among the reasons some residents are having trouble receiving unemployment checks.State Rep. Christina Minicucci, a guest on WHAV’s Friday morning program, reminded listeners she and other lawmakers offer can help.“A lot of times when people have been hung-up on their unemployment, for some reason, or it’s just not going through, they’ll call our office and we’re able to help move it along more quickly,” she says.Minicucci says many times, the issues are typographical errors or transposed numbers. Minicucci also advises some claims require additional information and residents should be on the alert for an unexpected telephone call. “They’re working seven days a week, and they’re calling from remote offices, so sometimes that phone call may come in from Idaho or something like that, and people won’t pick up the call. So, we always say pick up every phone call. They work seven days a week so you can do it on the weekend. They will not leave a message for you because you have so many people making the calls, so if you miss it, you miss it. You don’t even know you missed the call.”With unemployment on the rise, questions about unemployment claims are also increasing.“If you’ve watched any of the governor’s many press conferences, he says very often, we had 50 staff members when this started, and now they’re up to over 1,000 staff members. So, they’ve had to ramp up very quickly over the past six to eight weeks. A lot of those people are still being trained. But the number of phone calls that are coming through is just astronomical,” Minicucci notes.She adds even her office has to wait longer for an answer, but they have an advantage. “I have a person I work with at the state which, she used to resolve my claims within three hours, now it takes three to five days. But we, as legislators, do have a direct contact person to resolve claims.”For telephone and email addresses of state senators and representatives, visit malegislature.gov.Support the show