Oregonians may miss out on at least $200 million in 'waiting week' unemployment benefits
Bill Poehler Claire Withycombe
Salem Statesman Journal
In April the state's employment agency announced it would eliminate the one-week wait for Oregonians seeking unemployment benefits.
Congress authorized that move as millions fell into the ranks of the unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three months later, the agency still can't say when -- or if -- it will waive the waiting week for benefits. The feds have set a Dec. 31 deadline, but state officials say they can't promise the state will make it.
"We simply don't know yet with certainty that we can do that," acting director David Gerstenfeld told the Statesman Journal on Wednesday. "We're certainly doing everything we can to make it happen."
Estimates have put the amount of money due to Oregon residents for that waiting week at about $200 million, but Gerstenfeld said it's difficult to determine the exact amount.
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He said the 74,000 people who filed for unemployment the week of March 21 would only be eligible for their regular weekly benefits for their waiting week, while those who applied after would be eligible for the additional $600 weekly authorized under the CARES Act.
And with so many claims whose eligibility has yet to be determined, how much money is owed to Oregonians for that waiting week is unknown.
"In terms of progress of doing that work, we've continued to explore the best ways to do that as possible," Gerstenfeld said.
Receiving the waiting week of unemployment benefits would help Lisa Kline greatly, though after applying for the past 15 weeks and receiving only frustrating letters from the department, she has depleted her savings and is living on credit cards.
She operates her own food cart, Happy Go Lucky Crepes, at street fairs in cities like Corvallis and Eugene and at concerts and other events throughout the northwest during summers. All of those have been canceled.
"Besides just being out of money and being broke and worried, I feel like the system is doing nothing for me," Kline said. "I feel like I'm sending these letters into the void and someone has thrown them into the trash.
"This does not feel supportive at all."
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The $2 trillion CARES Act did not require states to waive their waiting weeks, but it authorized them to and allowed for federal reimbursement of that money.
Thousands still waiting
Not every state had a waiting week in their unemployment system before the COVID-19 pandemic, but states like New Mexico and Wisconsin successfully waived theirs in early April while Oregon still battles problems such as its antiquated COBOL computer system.
According to the department's data, it has processed 448,310 claims (about 99%), but Gerstenfeld said he knows it has paid benefits to about 273,000 people.
He said the data may be skewed due to those who have applied for benefits multiple times.
"We're still working on refining the data," Gerstenfeld said.
Ross Peterson spent more than two months trying to contact the Oregon Employment Department, finally turning to State Rep. Sherri Schouten, D-Beaverton for help. He received a call from the employment department to straighten out his claim.
When the money arrived in the mail, he received 16 checks for eight weeks of benefits, including the $600 weekly federal payments.
That, of course, didn't include the waiting week.
"The guy who called me from the OED said they intend to pay the waiting week, they just need to get the system configured," Peterson said.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Claire Withycombe is a state government reporter at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at cwithycombe@statesmanjournal.com, 503-910-3821 or follow on Twitter @kcwithycombe. Support local journalism by subscribing to the Statesman