Hearing looks at problems with filing for Pennsylvania jobless aid

In August, when Pennsylvania shuttered the Philadelphia Unemployment Compensation Service Center and fired the 90 employees who answered phones and processed benefit claims, the workers' union negotiated a key severance provision: that those who were laid off be allowed to file their claims before they left their office in Northeast Philadelphia.

"We knew they'd never get through," said Kathy Jellison, president of Service Employees International Union Local 668.

The dozen state legislators gathered Tuesday at a hearing in South Philadelphia never heard that story, but they heard lots of others about a system in chaos, in which the jobless spend fruitless days dialing to get past busy signals and waiting hours on hold, often just to understand why they were inexplicably knocked out of the system.

Unemployment in Pennsylvania is 8.2 percent, above the national rate of 7.8 percent.

State officials acknowledge the complaints but say that they are working with 30 million fewer federal dollars and that claimants can use the Internet or fax.

Bob Fleming, an unemployed concrete finisher from Lansdale, testified that he has been out of work for a month but has yet to receive any benefits, despite nearly constant effort.

"I'm 54 years old, and I'm not trying to go ... and live with my mom," Fleming said, as Jellison and unemployed claims workers listened.

Fleming said he had tried everything to file - the automated phone system one day told him his claim was registered, and the next day gave him the opposite message. The Internet didn't work.

After days of busy signals, Fleming set his phone to call him when a line opened. His phone finally rang - after the office had closed.

"My electric is due. My gas is due," he said. "I can't tell them I can't get through" to get unemployment benefits.

The department employs 332 fewer people than in January, testified Sharon Dietrich, managing attorney for Community Legal Services, which represents many unemployed Philadelphians.

Although staffing is the main issue, there also appear to be glitches in the automated and computer systems that kick people out of the biweekly claims-filing system, generating more phone calls, she said.

Since August, Dietrich has asked a paralegal to spend 14 days trying to call the unemployment office. On Oct. 16, the paralegal was on hold for an hour and 17 minutes; it took her three hours and 14 minutes to get through - on the 65th attempt.

One work-around is to contact state legislators' offices, which have back-channel phones. People also queue up before dawn to use the direct lines at CareerLink offices, the state job-search centers.

In a letter, Labor Secretary Julia Hearthway said the agency has just hired 100 temporary workers to handle the crunch. "While telephone services will continue, our current fiscal situation demands that we look at more cost-effective and efficient ways of communicating with claimants," her letter said.

The hearing was organized by State Reps. P. Michael Sturla (D., Lancaster), chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee, and William Keller (D., Philadelphia).