Here's What NJ Finally Said In Unemployment Pay 'Endless Battle'

TRENTON, NJ — Michele Rumsby is tired of being asked to be patient.

"Seven weeks in and still my daughter nor myself have heard a word from unemployment," said Rumsby, of Toms River, who's been unemployed since March 15. "It’s an endless battle. I think I just ask myself why is this so difficult and why can the government not get this right?"

On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy addressed the unemployment crisis facing New Jersey, one of the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. There are more than 900,000 New Jerseyans who have filed for unemployment since March.

While there are 622,000 residents who are receiving benefits, there are still more than 200,000 whose claims are unresolved, Murphy said, many of whom are self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers.

Claims for those workers were starting to be processed on Friday, and Facebook groups where the unemployed have been venting their frustrations with the system have begun including stories of claims that have gone through.

Murphy said the onslaught of claims in the last eight weeks has slowed the processing.

"Even in normal times it takes three weeks to process (unemployment claims)," Murphy said. "When claims are coming in the tens or hundreds of thousands a week, the denominator of those who have not received benefits yet is always going to be a big number."

While the state Labor Department has said it added some employees and provided laptops so workers could handle claims while working from home, neither Murphy nor labor department officials have said how many staffers are dedicated to processing claims.

Murphy on Friday did not offer any information on whether additional employees have been shifted to help the Labor Department's unemployment staff an assist in coping with a workload that is at least 10 times higher than it was in May 2019.

He did reiterate information that labor department officials have said in the past:

"It takes longer (to process a claim) when there is missing income information or when there is a separate claim filed in another state," Murphy said Friday.

For people such as Rumsby and Jackie and Keith Yasso, who have been trying for six weeks to get information corrected on Keith's unemployment claim, the frustration lies in not being able to even talk to a human being about the issue.

Keith Yasso filed on March 22. Last week, after being listed as "pending" for a month, he received a letter saying he has to file in Delaware because, according to the Labor Department, that's where he is employed, Jackie Yasso said.

"He has never worked in Delaware. His employer is in Butler, NJ," she wrote. The family lives in Westwood, in Bergen County.

Multiple phone calls to the labor department and their local legislators have not helped them get it straightened out. "We are a family of five and don’t know how in the world we are going to get anything paid this month. We are just beyond frustrated at this point," she said. Read more: 'We Need Money:' Residents Angry Over NJ Unemployment 'Silence'

It's a common complaint from residents who have reached out to Patch seeking help or even just a listening ear.

"The fact that you even responded to this email is a relief," a Hasbrouck Heights woman wrote in reply to an email seeking information on her situation. "I have been getting nowhere and am beyond stressed and frustrated" after going six weeks without a paycheck.

"When I claim my weekly benefits it says benefits are not payable please call the employment center, yet every time I call it’s automated message that says we can’t take calls please call back tomorrow. That is the same message for six weeks," she wrote. "It’s ludicrous they don’t even try to pick up the phone!"

"I don't even know when I’ll return to work because Governor Murphy has not said when we’re opening. Honestly I feel like I’m living in jail for a crime I did not commit," she wrote, adding residents waiting for help are expected "not to work or leave the house but expect us to pay our bills and leave us with no food and not help us out with getting unemployment!"

"I think I have sent an email to every government official I could think of," said Rumsby, who's a substitute teacher. "You reach out to unemployment, you get automated reply. It’s an absolute disgrace. You work work work and still no help from the people who are supposed to have all the answers."

Murphy did not address the status of processing claims for those who are eligible for extended unemployment coverage, a provision made by the federal government as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and. Economic Security (CARES) Act. People whose 26 weeks of unemployment benefits ran out right before the coronavirus crisis hit are eligible for 13 weeks of additional coverage under the CARES Act. Several people who have contacted Patch say they are still waiting for word on when they will receive help.

As he has repeatedly, Murphy promised that everyone who is entitled to receive unemployment assistance "will receive every dollar, every penny they qualify for."

"It’s funny how Gov. Murphy says over and over again you will get every penny," said Rumsby, who's a substitute teacher. "Well, that’s great sitting in his nice home not having to worry about anything, meanwhile there’s thousands of people like us who get no help at all from unemployment, hungry and worried about all our bills."

"This is way past frustration," she wrote. "He should be ashamed of himself."

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