Alabamians frustrated over late unemployment checks. What's being done?

Northport, Ala. —

• The Alabama Department of Labor said 420,000 people have filed claims for unemployment benefits as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19
• The department said 78 percent of claims have been processed, but thousands are still waiting.

Jerry and Lisa Nelems filed for state unemployment benefits in March. Their money will arrive in a week-and-a-half.

“A bunch of relief. Lots of relief. I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Jerry Nelems said.

Lisa lost her job taking patient notes for a doctor. Jerry’s an Uber driver whose business dried up after University of Alabama classes moved online in the wake of COVID-19.

Eight weeks will have gone by without unemployment money from the state.

“The unemployment office is supposed to be set up to take care of situations like this when you pay into unemployment,” Lisa Nelems said.

The state labor department said their system wasn’t set up for unprecedented COVID-19 demand. The department rolled out a digital unemployment insurance tracker and launched a new app to quicken payments for tens of thousands of workers. The department issued $190 million just this week.

Additional tech upgrades are in the works, including a live chat feature on the department’s website within a few weeks.

When you call the department’s toll-free number to check on your claim, this is what you hear.

“We are currently experiencing an extremely high call load. Please try your call again later.”

The department is working to add more people to its call center to answer questions.

And if you’re able to leave a message, the department says someone will call you back. But it’s going to take a while.

“It could be upwards of five days at least at this point. We’re working on other solutions to speed that time up,” said Alabama Department of Labor Communications Director Tara Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said the state labor department needs to do its due diligence when issuing unemployment benefits. They also need to go through a rigorous hiring process for call center operators and other employees. Both take time.

But she said the department is working each day to streamline the process so you can get your money as quickly as possible.