A new law that sends $650 million in federal CARES Act money to Ohio communities to help with pandemic-related costs also includes a potential overhaul for the process to apply for unemployment benefits. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports.
The law requires Auditor Keith Faber to review and make recommendations on the efficiency of the unemployment application process, which 1.7 million Ohioans have used during this pandemic. Tens of thousands haven’t received checks going back as far as March, and more than a hundred thousand people were overpaid.
“That system is broken. We need to have a better system. I’m convinced Ohio can do it.”
Faber says his office held nearly a dozen town halls on the unemployment application system, which he admits did take in more claims in just weeks than were filed in three years. But there have been complaints about long waits and disconnections on phone lines, delays and other issues, which Faber says could be solved by better customer service and technology and what he calls client centered approaches.
