Going on the dole isn't easy work

“Unemployment insurance claims can now be filed by telephone. Call 1-866-832-2363. It’s easy, trouble-free and so convenient!” says a flyer advertising the Virginia Employment Commission’s (VEC) filing hotline.

I dial. “Due to heavy call volume, wait times will be longer than normal…. To expedite the claim process, you may file your claim online. If you are unable to use the Internet and need to speak to a representative, please try your call again later. Thank you. Good bye.”

Carolyn Kalantari, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Justice Center, heard this message for 15 minutes and gave up. She and her client, who has been out of work since the end of November, had already tried online: Kalantari made him a Gmail account because he needed an e-mail address to create an account to file—finally—a claim for unemployment benefits. That process took her “a surprisingly long time”; the VEC website recommends setting aside 45 minutes. Next, according to Kalantari, “the thing spit out a form that said it couldn’t create the account.”

So they got in the car and drove to the local office. “I explained the guy’s account had closed him out and asked if we could speak to a representative from the VEC,” says Kalantari. She was told nobody there could help. Instead, she was directed toward a bank of phones and given a number: 1-866-832-2363.

Kalantari’s frustration shows. Earlier, maybe one or two clients a year encountered problems simply completing an application for unemployment benefits, and a lone paralegal handled most of the cases. Now, that paralegal plus Kalantari, half a dozen law students, and other lawyers who pitch in cannot keep up with filing plus preparing the actual legal facts of an employee’s dismissal whenever an employer challenges the claim. Kalantari’s even arranging a pro bono panel to train local lawyers to increase the center’s capacity.

Legal Aid’s director, Alex Gulotta, summarizes the dilemma: “You can’t go in person and the phone system’s completely broken. You can go as high as 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and still see a significant number of people who are computer illiterate or can’t afford an Internet connection. Basically, they’re creating a bifurcated system where the middle class can access the system easily and the most needy cannot.” The filing fiascoes mean his staff has nearly quadrupled the time they spend per unemployment case. Worse, applicants now have to enroll separately—and only online—for Virginia Workforce Connection, a program that matches a worker’s skills to available jobs and is required for receiving benefits. Filing an unemployment claim used to enroll people automatically.

When I called Charlottesville’s VEC office to ask about filing in person, several phone transfers left me with Joyce Fogg, VEC’s spokeswoman in Richmond. She says there should be someone there who could help in person. However, she and VEC know things are backed up. Ironically, the problem apparently stems less from the increased unemployment here and more from layoffs at VEC: Fogg says VEC is looking into hiring hourly wage workers to help. “We encourage people to file online because it’s the most efficient,” she says.

Meanwhile, as of October 31, less than 4 percent of people who did manage to file for benefits had their cases decided within 45 days whenever the former employer balked on paying. Federal regulations require 80 percent to be decided in that time. Kalantari describes a client who won the right to receive benefits “four days short of five months.” While waiting, he got evicted.

Now in order to keep receiving benefits, rarely more than $360 per week in the best scenarios, this man must call weekly to report on his job search. Not a native English speaker, he asked Kalantari to help him navigate the automated questions. They arrived at the end of the queries, at the point when he would state the two places he’d applied.

The recording cut him off.

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