Kentucky releases new unemployment insurance guidelines following surge of applications

A surge of layoffs across multiple industries has led the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet to issue new guidelines for people who need to file unemployment insurance claims.

Following Gov. Andy Beshear’s orders to halt in-service dining at restaurants, as well as the closure of other businesses such as barber shops and salons, the state has struggled to keep up with the flood of unemployment insurance claims this week.

On Monday and Tuesday, the website and phone line used to file claims crashed, and the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet increased its staff devoted to those claims by 45 employees.

By this time last year, the state had received 1,957 unemployment claims. This year, it’s received eight times that amount so far, Beshear said Friday.

A news release sent out by the governor’s office Friday asks the public to follow new guidelines, including an updated schedule that directs people on when they should file unemployment insurance applications, to help the office handle the surge.

The updated schedule directs people to only apply for unemployment benefits on certain days next week, based on the first initial of a their last name: Sunday, A-D; Monday, E-H; Tuesday, I-L; Wednesday, M-P; Thursday, Q-U; Friday, V-Z.

People who miss their slot should file on Friday. Anybody who began filing their application this week but did not complete it must finish the application process by 11:59 on Saturday, or they will have to restart.

“Please follow this new process if you are filing a UI claim so that our computer and phone systems will perform at optimal levels,” EWDC Deputy Secretary Josh Benton said in a news release Friday. “We want to make sure we can receive and process claims for all those experiencing job loss.”

Kentucky Career Center offices across the state are now closed to contain the spread of COVID-19, but workers are available to help with unemployment claims by phone and teleconference.

People with questions about their claims should call the office closest to them, at the following numbers:

Bowling Green area: 270-746-7425

Elizabethtown area: 270-766-5115

Covington area: 859-292-6666

Hazard area: 888-503-1423

Hopkinsville area: 270-889-6509

Lexington area: 859-233-5940

Louisville area: 502-595-4003

Morehead area: 606-783-8525

Owensboro area: 270-686-2502

Paducah area: 270-575-7000

Prestonsburg area: 888-503-1423

Somerset area: 606-677-4124

People can file for unemployment insurance online at https://kcc.ky.gov/career or by calling 502-875-0442.

As of Friday afternoon, both the website and the phone line appeared to be functioning.

The issues earlier this week were a result of the massive influx of calls and web-based applications, from an average of 2,000 claims a week before the virus outbreak to 9,000 claims processed on Tuesday alone.

Beshear has taken other steps to ease the financial burden for people who lost their jobs or had hours cut because of the outbreak, including the removal of the mandatory “waiting week” that prevented people from collecting benefits while their claims were being processed.

“I realize many of the steps I am taking to protect Kentuckians during this COVID-19 emergency are affecting employers and workers financially,” Beshear said in a news release. “Temporarily waiving some of the UI benefit rules during this time is one step I can do to help protect Kentuckians financially. I know this is a difficult time but we are going to get through this by working together to help each other.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 3:42 PM.