The number of weekly initial unemployment claims in Indiana is down significantly from the peak a year ago, but some Hoosiers are still waiting for their claims to be processed.
During last week’s COVID-19 press conference, Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne said the number of weekly claims dropped from a peak of 139,000 in March of 2020 to 9,200 for the week ending March 6, 2021. “Now that number has fluctuated since then, and we anticipate it to trend down,” Payne said. “This is confirmation that we are headed in the right direction.”
He said that of the 18.4 million claims filed between March of 2020 and February of 2021, 2.5 million are still unresolved and 2.3 million of those are being investigated as suspicious. Payne said there are “nuances and significant reasons” why some claims are still under investigation. “One big issue that causes continued processing that’s called a job attachment issue,” he explained. “A job attachment issue occurs when the information we have does not clearly indicate that a claimant has been properly employed to make him or her eligible for benefits.”
Payne was careful to distinguish between claims and claimants, noting that if one individual applied for unemployment in December but wanted it to be retroactive to when COVID’s impact on their business began in May, that immediately creates about 24 separate claims.
He said another challenge has to do with identity verification. He gave an example where an individual exceeded the number of login attempts with the ID.me system. That, in turn, meant having to go through an actual person, which involved long wait times.
Payne once again said the need to protect against fraud is one of the main barriers to speeding up processing times. He said the online system blocked more than 63,000 bot attacks during the second half of last month, but that pales in comparison to last November, when there were 17.9 million attempts blocked in a 10-day period.
“We’re aware that some of the fraud detection and prevention measures we put in place may be inconvenient for some and impact processing time, but we must have them in place to combat these criminals and to ensure that only those who are eligible receive benefits,” Payne said.
He said his department continues working to respond to emails and phone calls, and he stressed that all eligible Hoosiers will get their benefits.
