BOSTON — Dozens of viewers reached out to Boston 25 News about unemployment check delay concerns. Some claim the DUA says they were overpaid and have waited for a check for months.
Paul Fletcher is one viewer who is immediately seeing results. Fletcher reached out to Boston 25 News Reporter Elly Morillo last month about with concerns of not receiving a check since May. Boston 25 forwarded his claim to the DUA, as well as other viewers who reached out with concerns. This month, Fletcher tells Boston 25 News he got paid in full.
Attorney Ed Howard says the DUA’s new program may aim to tackle those check delays, but says his clients are still dealing with overpayment claims. Howard says the department is in need of more resources. Howard says something as simple as a questionnaire error could set claimants back for weeks.
“Right immediately, the DUA has of August 1st stopped talking calls to the call center on Fridays in an attempt to try to play catch up on the backlog of applications for benefits, as well as different issues related to claims determination. All of these things inclusive of the new system which they just launched in May, on May 6 has kind of created the perfect storm for the delays that were immediately seeing,” said Howard.
As Boston 25 News previously reported, the DUA says the last few weeks of June usually see an uptick in claims. Data shared with Boston 25 reports that in the week of June 22 of last year more than 9,000 initial claims were filed, compared to the more than 10,000 claims that were filed in the week of June 26 back in 2021.
Boston 25 News reached out to the DUA for an update on the new pilot program.
“DUA is committed to improving operations and communication with workers and employers and has been making progress to improve the unemployment insurance system. While our call center pilot is only two weeks into implementation, we are already seeing early success as our staff members work hard to process claims faster. DUA will continue to explore all options to improve claims processing and strengthen outcomes for all our constituents.” – DUA Spokesperson.
The department says they continue to receive feedback on the system and have made enhancements where it is needed.
The DUA tells Boston 25 News the program has added capacity for staff on Fridays to focus on claims and since the launch total actionable work items have decreased by nearly 20%.
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