This Lexington woman applied for unemployment March 18 and still hasn’t been helped

It’s been almost one month since Camille Deering, a server at Tony’s of Lexington, first filed for unemployment insurance.

She hasn’t received a dime. She also hasn’t been able to speak to anybody from the state unemployment office or her local office, and she’s called over a hundred times.

Deering is one of countless Kentuckians who remain frustrated with a system that has failed to keep up with their needs: the phone lines are almost always busy, the website regularly crashes, and voicemails to state employees can go weeks without a response.

Kentucky has seen the largest recorded spike in unemployment claims in history over the past month, overwhelming a system that, state officials admit, was not designed to handle the scale of the current crisis, brought on by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

In Deering’s case, that has forced her to make dozens of calls every day to the state unemployment phone line and her local office, all to no avail.

Deering first filed for unemployment insurance March 18. At first, the state said her claim was under investigation, but when she checked again, it changed to say that her claim had not been submitted at all.

This past Saturday, she was forced to start over. She submitted a new claim, and though the state said her claim has been submitted, she is — based on her past experience — unsure.

Deering has unsuccessfully called dozens of times this week, both to the state and to several local unemployment offices. She even emailed Josh Benton, the deputy secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, who often speaks about unemployment insurance during Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily press briefing.

“I support what (Beshear’s) doing, I can’t even imagine the undertaking, but it’s almost going on five weeks and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I can’t even talk to a person,’” Deering said. “That’s where I’m at, I have no idea what to do.”

A mother of two young children, Deering said she calls as much as she can, but she can’t spend many hours straight trying to get a hold of someone while simultaneously taking care of her children.

Even though her claim has been submitted, Deering is worried that it could take several more weeks to get her first check. If not for her savings account and her husband’s income, “I have no idea what I would do,” she said.

“To go almost a month, there almost has to be a crisis line of some sort,” Deering said. “You’ve got to do something about this.”

(A few hours after this story was initially published online Wednesday, Benton called Deering and resolved all issues with her claim, Deering said.)

During a news conference Tuesday, Benton said the state has received 521,592 unemployment claims since mid-March, when many of the state’s mandatory business closures went into effect to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Kentucky is still averaging 14,000 to 15,000 claims a day, and more than 20,000 phone calls every day. The state has made nearly $150 million in payments to over 450,000 people. In addition, more than 150,000 have begun receiving an extra $600 a week that was approved by the federal government, Benton said.

Most people who have filed but still haven’t received their claim are still in the mandatory 13-15 day waiting period; have filed an additional claim; are in the process of identity verification; are facing a protest by their employer; or their claim is under investigation, Benton said.

The state is adding additional employees to answer the phone line every day, he said. Since mid-March, the state has increased its number of employees handling claims from 12 to between 1,000 and 1,200.

“We’re working to do better each and every day,” Beshear said. “I really appreciate the job that the (Education and Workforce Development Cabinet) has done, but if you haven’t been helped yet, it’s not enough.”

“We will work, and we will work, and we will work to make sure you get what you need to get through this crisis,” Beshear said.

Scott Kennedy, a bartender who lives in Boone County, said he and his wife, who also worked in the restaurant industry, filed for unemployment in mid-March but also haven’t received payment and haven’t been able to talk to anybody from the state.

The state’s online system said Kennedy’s claim is pending due to an employer protest period, but that period has been repeatedly pushed back, from ending April 17 to the 19th and, as of Wednesday morning, to the 21st.

Kennedy said he and his family are struggling. Their savings are dwindling daily, and he’s been left frustrated by the state’s failure to plan for this crisis or respond to his mounting questions about when, or if, he can expect the assistance that he needs.

“What do they expect people to do? Food just doesn’t magically just show up on the table, you can’t just magically pay your mortgage,” Kennedy said. “I have two kids in high school. What am I supposed to tell them? ‘Hey, I can’t buy you food?’”

This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 12:16 PM.