Hundreds of people line up outside KY Capitol to speak to a human about unemployment
Adriene Whittaker, 25, was one of the lucky ones, if you want to call it that.
She left her home in Bowling Green around 6 a.m. Wednesday and made it into a line that wrapped around the exterior of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort moments before Kentucky State Police troopers cut it off around 9 a.m.
She was one of the hundreds of people who came from all over the commonwealth for the chance to speak to a human in hopes of reviving their stalled claims for unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic. The first person arrived around 5:20 a.m.
Some brought books, others brought lawn chairs. The line hugged the little shade that could be found in the parking lot. People swapped their unemployment horror stories.
Whittaker filed for unemployment on May 1 and her claim has been under investigation since then. Like most people in the line, she’s never been able to reach one of the “Tier 3” employees, those few, coveted people who are supposedly able to resolve unemployment claims in minutes.
“They told me it would be worth the drive,” Whittaker said.
A protest Tuesday by people angry that their unemployment claims haven’t been processed forced the state to set up an impromptu unemployment center in the Capitol Education Center next to the Governor’s mansion. The news quickly spread on Facebook groups for the unemployed, where people share secrets on how to actually talk to someone from the unemployment office.
Amber Downs, 26, of Lebanon, arrived around 2:30 p.m. and was directed to go find a group of state employees where she could put down her name and hope for a phone call. She said she had no idea about the state’s pop-up unemployment office until today.
“It was like it was a secret,” Downs said.
Angela Hazlett and her fiancé, Jessie Krzyzewski, heard the state was seeing people Tuesday. They left their home in Benton and drove four hours to Frankfort, but didn’t arrive before the line was shut down around 4:30 Tuesday. All they could do was leave Krzyzewski’s name and number with unemployment staffers. After deciding against getting a hotel in Frankfort because they had a dog with them, Hazlett and Krzyzewski drove the four hours back to Benton Tuesday night.
They barely slept and hit the road again Wednesday morning, around five. By the time they arrived at the Capitol, the line had been cut off again.
“This is just the worst luck in the world,” Hazlett said.
Krzyzewski has been trying to get unemployment since March. He left his job at Papa John’s because he was worried the restaurant wasn’t taking enough precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. His boss disputed the claim, which has held up the money.
“We just sit in limbo,” Hazlett said. Meanwhile, their landlord has been pressuring them to leave, calling for rent money and threatening to turn off the utilities. They’ve sought help from Legal Aid.
Courtney See, 37, from Harrison, Ohio, also didn’t make it in time. She works in Boone County, so has to file for unemployment in Kentucky. She said her employer would have allowed her to return to work, but she can’t get child care for two of her kids because of limits on how many children the daycare can accept.
She was skeptical about how effective it will be to just leave her name and number with the unemployment office.
“Call backs don’t mean anything to me right now, they don’t,” See said. “I don’t believe I’ll get a call back. Pissed is an understatement.”
She managed to slip into the main line shortly afterward.
Many people in line who showed up Tuesday and left their name and number with the unemployment office hadn’t gotten a call back by Wednesday morning. The names filled up at least five pages, one person said.
Deborah McLaughlin, 47, of Berea, was one of the last people in line Wednesday. She said she hadn’t received a call from when she showed up Tuesday.
“I wasn’t expecting one anyway,” said said. She filed for unemployment on April 17 and said she hasn’t been able to speak to anyone who could help with her claim, which is under investigation. She’s had to ask for help to pay her rent and utilities.
See, Whittaker and McLaughlin were among around 20 people who were turned away after they made it in the building at 6:50 p.m., nearly ten hours after they arrived at the Capitol Wednesday.
There have been more than 850,000 initial claims for jobless benefits in the state since early March, when officials began shutting down huge swaths of the economy to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The state has processed 95 percent of the claims filed in March, 94 percent of the claims filed in April and 94 percent of the claims filed in May. But that still leaves 7,500 outstanding claims from March, 27,000 from April and 17,000 from May, state officials said Tuesday.
Those numbers also don’t include people who have received some money, but then stopped getting payments.
Maria Layport, 57, of Danville, had no problem applying originally and got her money right away. But when she filed, she included a date she thought she would return to work. She hasn’t returned and ever since that date passed she’s stopped getting money.
The unemployment office will continue providing in-person services Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services building at 275 E. Main St. in Frankfort. Around 1,100 people were helped in person between Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Our communication has not been good. It has not,” Beshear said Wednesday. “It’s not been where it should be, these are our citizens, these are my people and we should have done better. I’ll take that blame.”
There will be a separate line on Thursday for those who filed a claim in March. On Friday, there will be a line for those who filed in March and April.
“If we can get caught up, we’ll still have a lot to do,” Beshear said. “But we’ve got to get caught up.”
The Republican Party of Kentucky criticized Gov. Andy Beshear Wednesday, saying he had let Kentuckians down.
“For the last two days, Kentuckians from all over the state have gathered in Frankfort to fight for the benefits they have earned,” said Michael Lonergan, the party spokesman. “While the Beshear Administration has slowly begun to act, there is no excuse for these delays and constant excuses from politicians and bureaucrats.”
It was a sentiment shared by some in line.
“Why do we have to come to the governor’s house to get some change?” asked Janaya Bani Irsheid, 22, from Cincinnati.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
