RALEIGH, N.C. – Multiple unemployed workers say they are still without benefits after two months of emails and phone calls.

 

What You Need To Know


  • More than 861,000 people in North Carolina have filed for unemployment benefits between March 15 and May 11.

  • Around 367,000 have not received benefits yet.

  • The delay has left many in a bind.

 

John Mortensen lives on Hatteras Island and has been out of work since Hurricane Dorian shut down many tourism-related businesses. His unemployment benefits from the storm ran out on March 10. By then, the growing pandemic had scuttled reopening plans.

Mortensen was eligible for and applied for another round of benefits. Two months later, he is still without any help. His savings are exhausted and he has already used his stimulus check to cover the rent and other bills.

“I'd love to see anybody, anybody, try to do what I'm doing,” he said. “Just ask yourself, could you live 74 days without any income? And pay all your bills, and your mortgage, and take care of your babies, and stuff like that?”

More than 861,000 North Carolinians applied for unemployment insurance between March 15 and May 11. Some 367,000—42 percent—have yet to receive a check.

Triangle resident Brian Foushee is another such worker. He worked multiple jobs and lost all of them when the pandemic hit. He first applied for benefits in late March. To make ends meet, Foushee moved into his late grandmother's house and subleased his regular home so he wouldn't have to pay rent.

Early in the pandemic, Division of Employment Security officials acknowledged the rush of applications was overwhelming their system, which was designed to handle 3,000 claims a week. The DES committed to hiring more people to help staff its call centers and other state agencies offered to loan out some of their staff to assist.

DES officials said in an email they are in the process of hiring 1,000 additional call center agents. This will bring their total claims processing workforce to 2,600, with 2,000 of those workers working the call center. Officials said they expect the expanded workforce will be able to reduce the number of disconnections due to high call volume.

Asked how claims are prioritized, officials said each claim is different and has to be judged on its individual merits. 

Unemployed workers are eligible for one of two programs: the regular unemployment insurance program and the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. These programs require two separate applications.

In order to be eligible for the PUA program, an applicant first has to be found ineligible for the unemployment insurance program. Among other things, PUA applicants have to prove their unemployment is a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.