SPRING LAKE, N.C. – A woman left unemployed by the COVID-19 pandemic said she has to run the unemployment gauntlet all over again after her benefits got cut.

Yvonne Jackson lost her job as a warehouse worker in early March and first tried to apply on the 15th of that month. It took until April 14 to get her claim processed, and the first payment arrived on May 1. Three weeks later, the payments stopped.

Jackson discovered that a second claim had been opened under her name. When she called the Division of Employment Security's call center to resolve the issue, she was unable to get past the initial call screener. She said this has proven particularly frustrating.

“If you have the time to chat back and forth in a text or email with the center agents, why can't you just do it with me, the person? And we can get this taken care of then and there?” she asked.

A DES spokesperson said in a statement the agency is currently administering four different unemployment assistance programs, including three authorized by the CARES Act. Each one has different eligibility requirements and timelines, so a person can move from one type of assistance to another over time. Federal guidelines require a separate claim to be filed for each program to verify eligibility.

Jackson has yet to receive any further unemployment benefits. She is working with a temp agency to figure out her options while trying to decide how to pay her bills. She owes more than $400 in electrical bills alone.

“At this point, I mean, I was at my wits' end because like I said, it was a struggle just to get approved and accepted,” she said.

More than 300,000 North Carolinians who have filed for unemployment relief due to the COVID-19 pandemic have yet to receive benefits, according to the Division of Employment Security.