ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COVID-19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACTIONS & RESPONSE
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY
COVID-19 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
ACTIONS & RESPONSE
I. UNPRECEDENTED UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS TRAFFIC AND FILINGS
o Weekly Claims Data
Through the last five weeks ending April 4, there have been 513,173 initial
unemployment claims filed. To put that into perspective:
▪ 5 times greater than total initial claims in the first five weeks of the 2008 Great
Recession
▪ Nearly 8 times greater than in the first five weeks of the 2001 recession
▪ Greater than the total number of initial claims for the twelve months of 2019
(489,831)
▪ Greater than the total number of initial claims for the twelve months of 2018
(492,223)
Industries contributing the heaviest to the increase in initial claims in the las three weeks
(in no order) are construction, wholesale trade, temp help, healthcare offices,
childcare, recreation, hotels, and restaurants.
o Benefit Amounts Paid
▪ March 1 – March 31, 2020
▪ *Total number of claims paid: 270,424
▪ *Total amount of claims paid: $198,382,549
o *based on 22 business days
o Call Center Volume
Since the beginning of March, the IDES call center has received over 1,000,000 phone
calls. The call center, comprised of 173 employees in four call centers throughout the
state, continues to be inundated with an unparalleled volume of calls. Amid this
overwhelming surge of calls, the call center has fielded and responded to the following:
▪ Week of March 23: 15,855 calls answered and serviced
▪ Week of March 30: 15,533 calls answered and serviced
▪ Week of April 6: 19,084 calls answered and serviced
o Website Traffic
IDES is also experiencing unprecedented volumes of online traffic which has caused
technical difficulties when filing a claim online. Over the last 35 days, the website has
fielded over 6.5 million sessions:
▪ Week of March 9: 119,239
▪ Week of March 16: 1,070,244
▪ Week of March 23: 1,428,709
▪ Week of March 30: 2,074,294
▪ Week of April 6: 1,825,778
1In an effort to cut down on this incredibly high volume of calls and web traffic, IDES
implemented an alphabetized filing schedule; the department continues to
encourage claimants to adhere to this schedule.
Online Filing Schedule:
▪ Those with last names beginning with letters A-M will be asked to file their claims
on Sundays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays.
▪ Those with last names beginning with letters N-Z will be asked to file their claims
on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays.
▪ Saturdays will be available for anyone to accommodate those who could not file
during their allotted window.
Call Center Filing Schedule:
▪ Those with last names beginning with letters A-M will be asked to call on
Tuesdays and Thursdays between 7:30am – 6pm.
▪ Those with last names beginning with letters N-Z will be asked to call on Mondays
and Wednesdays between 7:30am – 6pm.
▪ Fridays (7:30am – 6pm) will be available for anyone to accommodate those who
could not file during their allotted window.
II. IDES STAFF OVERWHELMED
To ensure the health and safety of our customers and staff, IDES made the decision to close all
local offices to the public. These offices are still staffed and operational and continue to work
through and meet the increased demand of unemployment benefit claims and questions. IDES
understands and empathizes with the heightened level of frustration this decision has h ad on
those wishing to file a claim, but we could not risk the health or the lives of our staff or our
customers through unnecessary exposure.
▪ Essential and Non-Essential Staff
IDES deployed 476 employees to work remotely from home, while 539 employees
have been deemed essential and continue to report to the office for work. Of the 539
employees still physically returning to work:
o 273 working to process claims
o 173 working in the call center, including 30 non-essential employees brought
back to work in the call center
o 93 administrative and support staff, including the in mailroom
Collectively, all these employees have put in nearly 6,500 hours of overtime and
many are working Saturdays and Sundays to complete the dramatic increase in work that
cannot get done during the regularly scheduled business week.
▪ Reenlisting Retirees
IDES has also reached out to recently retired IDES staffers with unemployment benefit
insurance experience to work on contract to assist the department during th is crisis.
Since these retirees are vulnerable to the coronavirus, we have procured laptops to allow
them to assist from home. Currently, the department has identified 10 retirees who
have shown interest in returning to work.
2▪ Improvements to the Call Center
While the call center continues to be inundated with questions and claims, IDES
updated its phone system to increase capacity by 40%, substantially reducing
wait times and eliminating claimants receiving a busy signal. Additionally, the daily
call center hours have been extended to respond to those waiting in the queue
after closure.
Additionally, IDES is in the process of establishing an outside call center with an
additional 200 agents who will assist in the application and certification process.
III.HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MODIFICATION
IDES has worked closely with DoIT to monitor and improve the performance and capabilities of
the website. Early on, the website was moved to new hardware infrastructure to with more
capacity to handle increased demand. The significant increase in the volume of claims filed
quickly impacted the infrastructure, after which changes were made to increase the processing
capacity and storage, as well as the implementation of a maintenance window each evening to
allow batch files to process without the additional competition for resources from filers.
While these made significant improvements, a large portion of those filing claims are first-time
filers, which requires identification validation, and began running into issues with the validation
connection with the Secretary of State. Unsuccessful validation results in the complete inability
of claimants to file. To help move registrations faster, that portion of the validation was removed
and replaced with other identity validation methods.
DoIT has engaged IBM for assistance with analysis and design of the quickest path forward to
implement additional capacity to manage the unprecedented load on the system. That work is
currently underway, and IBM has been highly responsive, dedicating a team of five individuals
to work all paths concurrently. Additionally, Accenture, the originally developer of the IBIS
system, offered support and assistance with the system. Although the program has be en
completely maintained by state staff since its implementation, DoIT is engaged with Accenture
for further guidance and expertise in improvements.
Applications Dynamics, a performance monitoring tool, has been procured by DoIT and is
currently being utilized for the purposes of the IDES website. DoIT, IBM, and Applications
Dynamics have worked together to install and operationalize monitoring of the website while
adding additional server capacity. IBM and DoIT have also established a virtual war room
staffed to monitor the application performance during peak hours and respond quickly if needed.
Lastly, transaction times are averaging well below one second, and server/mainframe
utilization has remained below fifty percent. The application performance has been solid,
with minor hiccups.
IV. THIRD PARTY SUPPORT + VENDORS
o Accenture
The Illinois Benefit Information System (IBIS) is the system claimants use to file
and receive payment of unemployment insurance benefits. The system, originally
developed by Accenture, has offered IDES and DoIT further guidance and assistance in
the maintenance and improvement of the system while accessed by a large number of
people.
3o IBM
DoIT engaged IBM for assistance with analysis and design of the quickest path forward
to implement additional capacity to manage the unprecedented load on the system. IBM
has been highly responsive, dedicating a team of five individuals to work all paths
concurrently.
o Applications Dynamics
Applications Dynamics, a performance monitoring tool, has been procured by DoIT and
is currently being utilized for the purposes of the IDES website. DoIT, IBM, and
Applications Dynamics have worked together to install and operationalize monitoring of
the website while adding additional server capacity.
o Google AI, Quantiphi, Carasoft
IDES and DoIT are working with Google AI, Quantiphi, and Carasoft to bring a better
experience to claimants needing service in filing and maintaining unemployment claims.
With an initial rollout scheduled for the week of April 13, 2020, this program
will provide a 24/7 web bot embedded on the IDES website to immediately provide
answers to the most frequently asked questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and
unemployment insurance benefits. This process will also provide a more robust feedback
loop for IDES staff to better track developing issues in real-time.
o Pitney Bowes
On a typical day, IDES’ mailroom processes 30,000 documents including certifications,
payments and notifications. With the surge of unemployment claims filed, the mail
room received over 200,000 documents in two days, meaning they received a
week’s worth of work in two days. This was compounded by a two-day office closure,
which was the result of a positive case of COVID-19 in the building. This has led to a
backlog of work in the mailroom. To remedy this backlog, IDES is partnering with Pitney
Bowes to meet the increased mailing demand.
o Deloitte
IDES is contracting with Deloitte to implement and maintain a web-based solution to
implement and maintain the new federal unemployment benefit to independent
contractors.
Additionally, IDES is working with Deloitte to stand up an additional call center. This call
center, which would be virtual in nature, would contract agents who work remotely to
meet the increased demand of services from claimants through the call center, relieving
some of the pressure from our already thinly-wore staffers who have fielded tens of
thousands of calls.
V. EXPANDED UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ELIGIBILITY
Illinois Employment Services Requirement Suspension
IDES filed an emergency rule which suspended the requirement that a claimant register
with Illinois Job Link if their unemployment is due to a temporary lay-off resulting from
a temporary closing attributable to the COVID-19 virus.
Able and Available to Work Clarification + Modification
4IDES filed an emergency rule which clarified that an individual would be considered “able
and available to work” if he or she was seeking jobs that the law permitted them to
perform and that they are physically and mentally capable of performing given their
current circumstances, as long as there is a job market for the service s; for example,
transcribing, data entry, and virtual assistant services that can be performed from home.
Waiting Week Waived
Before collection of the regular 26 weeks of unemployment benefits begins, a claimant is
normally required to serve a waiting week. During a waiting week, a claimant does not
receive benefits for the first week they are no longer working. Claimants certify for
unemployment and receive benefits every two weeks. Waiving this waiting week, per the
executive order of Governor Pritzker, allows a claimant to receive two weeks of
benefits, as opposed to the usual one week of benefits, in their first payment.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
FPUC provides an additional $600 each week in 100% federally funded benefits
to anyone entitled to regular state unemployment benefits, PEUC, PUA, EB, or certain
other specialized unemployment benefits. FPUC is potentially available for weeks
beginning on or after March 29, 2020 and continuing through the week ending Ju ly 25,
2020.
Pursuant to the federal legislation, this $600 will not be retroactively applied to
unemployment claims that arose prior to March 29, 2020. In many cases, individuals will
also be eligible for more weeks of unemployment above the 26 weeks provided under
regular unemployment rules. Both benefits will be applied automatically if you qualify.
Status: FPUC was implemented and began disbursing funds being disbursed the
week starting April 5, 2020, which was the first week the federal legislation
allowed FPUC to be paid.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
PEUC provides up to 13 weeks’ worth of 100% federally funded benefits to
individuals who have exhausted their rights to regular state unemployment benefits up to
26 weeks in Illinois. PEUC is potentially available for weeks beginning on or after March
29, 2020 and continuing through the week ending December 26, 2020. PEUC will be
retroactive once implemented.
Status: IDES received USDOL guidelines on April 10 and expects the program can
be implement through the current IDES computer system the week of April 20.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
PUA provides 100% federally funded unemployment benefits for individuals who are
unemployed for specified COVID-19-related reasons and are not covered by a state’s
regular unemployment insurance program, the extended benefit (EB) program under
Illinois law, or the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program
(PEUC), including self-employed sole proprietors. Up to 39 weeks’ worth of benefits
are potentially available under the program for COVID-19-related unemployment claims.
PUA claims will be backdated to the individual’s first week of unemployment, but no
earlier than February 2, 2020, and will continue for as long as the individual’s remains
unemployed as a result of COVID-19, but no later than the week ending December 26,
2020. The program is intended to be similar to the federal Disaster Unemployment
Assistance program, which provides unemployment benefits in response to local
disasters.
5This is a brand-new program that requires an entirely new system to be built from scratch
by IDES.
Status: IDES is contracting with Deloitte to implement and maintain a web-based
solution for PUA. Deloitte has been building a PUA system for
Colorado, and it will be modified to fit Illinois law. While a program of this
magnitude might normally take up to a year to design and implement, the
department is committed to getting this program online by the week of May 11,
2020.
▪ Legislation
IDES is currently exploring legislative options to extend and expand unemployment
benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Extended Benefits Trigger, which would change Section 409 of the UI Act to tie
into Families First Coronavirus Response Act and CARES to receive 100% federal
funding if extended benefits are triggered in Illinois.
2. Suspend the waiting week beyond the Proclamation of Disaster by tying it to the
CARES Act to continue to receive 100% federal funding for the waiting week.
VI. UNEMPLOYMENT: OTHER STATES’ EXPERIENCES
o NEW YORK
▪ ISSUE: Outdated Technology
The software programs that run the systems were “written in the 1970s and 1980s
and remain constrained by the technology of that era,” officials wrote while seeking
bids as part of a planned modernization project.
New York Times (April 4, 2020): He Needs Jobless Benefits. He Was
Told to Find a Fax Machine.
▪ ISSUE: Unanswered Phone Calls at Call Center
New York Magazine (April 9, 2020): Applying for Unemployment Is My
New Full-Time Job: I’ve called hundreds of times this week. I haven’t
spoken to a human yet.
o NEW JERSEY
▪ ISSUE: Outdated Technology
New Jersey, Kansas, and Connecticut are among those attempting to weather the crisis
while relying on systems that run on a decades-old computer programming
language known as COBOL.
New York Daily News (April 8, 2020): Ancient computer systems struggle
to process unemployment claims amid coronavirus pandemic
o CALIFORNIA
▪ ISSUE: New System Takes Times / Need More Details from Labor Dept
In California, officials are discouraging such workers — including those who have seen
their hours cut drastically but still have jobs — from even applying at this time.
But creating a new system that expands unemployment insurance to a pool of people
who have never been eligible before could take some time. Levy said California would
6normally take six to 18 months to create such a new program. But such a time frame
is not acceptable when millions of Americans find themselves abruptly unemployed,
she added.
But California officials say they need more information and details from the Labor
Department before they can proceed. Unemployment is a shared state and federal
program, and a violation of federal rules can have ramifications for states.
Los Angeles Times (April 7, 2020): Newly eligible California workers in
limbo over unemployment benefits
o LOUISIANA
▪ ISSUE: Unprecedented Unemployment
The number of unemployment claims reached a staggering 102,172 last week. The
week before it was 97,400. Before the coronavirus, about 1,500 people filed claims
each week.
Facebook pages have been full of complaints from people about the difficulty of trying
to file a claim to the overwhelmed Louisiana Workforce Commission, either over the
phone or online.
Others who have filed a claim but have yet to receive any money complain that they
are still waiting for the agency to resolve their issue.
Self-employed and independent contractors have complained that the workforce
commission’s system is not ready to process their claims.
Nola.com (April 9, 2020): 'People need help and need it now': Louisiana
to begin disbursing $600 benefit to jobless
o FLORDIA
▪ ISSUE: Broken Website, Revert to Paper Applications
The office is going to revert to paper applications because the website is so broken,
Executive Director Ken Lawson said.
The unemployment website is essentially broken, dogged by longstanding
glitches and a crush of people thrown out of work because of the coronavirus.
Lawson said the office received 1.5 million calls in the last week, with a third of
them coming from Floridians looking to reset their PIN numbers. The PINs are
required to log in to the site.
Tampa Bay Times (April 2, 2020): ‘I apologize’ for Florida’s
unemployment website fiasco, director says
o WASHINGTON
▪ ISSUE: Unprecedented Unemployment
For the week ending April 4, the state received 170,063 initial claims for
unemployment insurance, according to the state Employment Security Department.
7The state is scrambling to upgrade its claim system to disburse federal money and to
accept jobless claims from workers who are normally ineligible for state
unemployment insurance, such as independent contractors.
Under the federal stimulus bill, these state -ineligible workers can get temporary
federal unemployment insurance, which is paid through state unemployment systems.
But because of the unprecedented number of new claims as well as computer
problems, many workers have had their claims denied or delayed.
Seattle Times (April 9, 2020): Washington state nears half a million
unemployed from coronavirus, with ‘tsunami’ of more claims expected
8You can also read
