FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There could soon be some help to catch up on the backlog of pandemic unemployment assistance claims in Arkansas. The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services has asked for the Arkansas National Guard’s help.
“It’s taken months before I could get anything,” Cheri Weeks told 5NEWS.
Cheri Weeks is one of those Arkansans who didn’t receive her unemployment benefits for months and has struggled to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Every week, they send me a letter that the decision is pending," she said. They are making a decision, but like I said, it’s been months,” she said.
Arkansas Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston says more people can qualify for pandemic unemployment assistance under the newest round of stimulus, but this also requires more verification to make sure they qualify.
“There are a lot of questions around the actual verification and what we are running into is people have not submitted the proper documentation or verified their ID," Secretary Preston said. "That has led to a long backlog that we are trying to get through."
The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services and the Governor are still in the early planning stages. Still, if funding is approved, members of the guard could help workforce centers verifying ID’s for pandemic unemployment assistance claims.
Secretary Preston says, for now, employees at the workforce centers across the state are working as quickly as possible to work through the claims.
“Some of those are requiring further review or have possibly been denied, and those folks that have been denied are going through an appeals process which again would slow things down because when you have that many denied, you have to set up an appeal and go through that entire process,” he said.
The Arkansas Department of Commerce has paid more than $100 million since the pandemic unemployment assistance reset. In 2020 the state paid out $2.5 billion in unemployment assistance compared to $98 million in 2019.