Anthony Hicks hoped unemployment payments would be his family’s lifeline.
The Holbrook man can’t work his construction job because of COVID-19, and he says the unemployment system isn’t working either.
He’s tried to file on the state’s online system he says for two solid weeks, but only gets error messages, and can’t get a real person on the phone.
He requests callbacks but says no one calls.
“How many times have you tried?” Hank asked.
“Off the top of my head probably 150 times,” Anthony said.
His wife Chandra is a part-time nurse, the only one in the family working now and in terrifying circumstances. She comes home exhausted and sees her husband more and more frustrated, her kids and in-laws worried and confused.
“Sometimes you want to just cry really. I’m really disappointed in the system that it’s supposed to help people and it’s not doing that,” Chandra said.
Governor Baker has said the state has hired hundreds of more workers for the suddenly overloaded unemployment division.
“They scaled up literally by a factor by a factor of practically ten to enhance their ability to both take incoming calls and call people back,” Baker said.
And unemployment experts say although the system is swamped, be persistent. And to protect your rights and start a log of your attempts.
“Keep trying and keep track,” said attorney Jill Havens.
She has learned it’s better to try online than on the phone. And it’s best to use Chrome as the browser. And she says, when you finally get through, it’s likely your payments will be retroactive.
“I do know they are being very lenient about that sort of thing if anyone has any sort of story of like I really did try all these times they’re being good about it. It doesn’t have to be official just a paper that shows here’s all the dates and times I tried,” Havens said.
We have learned Massachusetts is considering hiring a remote call center to help with the increased volume, and to handle”callbacks. It’s also put updated information on its website, including this new unemployment claim handbook specifically about COVID-19.
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