Provide Relief to Laid-Off Workers!
Governor Janet Mills and Commissioner Laura Fortman
Over three months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Maine, thousands of Mainers across the state continue to wait for their unemployment claims to be processed by the Maine Department of Labor. Many of these workers have waited over three months for their benefits, while bills go unpaid and they risk losing their homes, vehicles and businesses. Others have not received benefits for several days due to ongoing fraud investigations, forcing them to forego paying bills and overdraw bank accounts for money they thought was coming. Many others face tremendous delays in fact findings which are now being scheduled out to late summer.
Please sign this petition to ask Governor Janet Mills and Commissioner Laura Fortman to provide immediate relief to workers suffering an undue delay in receiving benefits by:- Using federal stimulus funding to provide payments to all claimants waiting for more than three weeks from their initial claim for regular unemployment, extended benefits or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or two weeks from the initial claim when a fact-finding conference has been scheduled.
- Establishing a standard to expedite processing for all claimants waiting more than three weeks for an initial payment.
- Notifying claimants whether or not they are in “pay” status at least 7 days in advance of any programmatic change that will affect their payments.
- Establishing an online “chat” function to enable claimants to more quickly establish the status of their claim or determine the reason for any delay.
- Providing notice in multiple languages on the Maine DOL home page of the availability of unemployment benefits generally, and interpreter services for limited English language speakers.
Sponsored by
To:
Governor Janet Mills and Commissioner Laura Fortman
From:
[Your Name]
Over two months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Maine, thousands of Mainers across the state continue to wait for their unemployment claims to be processed by the Maine Department of Labor. Many of these workers have waited over 9 weeks for their benefits, while bills go unpaid and they risk losing their homes, vehicles and businesses. Others have not received benefits for several days due to ongoing fraud investigations, forcing them to forego paying bills and overdraw bank accounts for money they thought was coming. Many others face tremendous delays in fact findings which are now being scheduled out to late summer.
We understand that for many years, through multiple administrations, Maine’s unemployment system, and that of all other states, has been neglected and the whole system is in dire need of an upgrade to accommodate the majority of unemployed workers who do not receive regular unemployment benefits. We also know that there is no way MDOL could have foreseen the unprecedented volume of claims that has totally overwhelmed a system that was not designed to handle so many claims at the same time.
However, for many Mainers this is an emergency and they need help now. We ask the Maine Department of Labor to provide immediate relief to workers suffering an undue delay in receiving benefits by:
Using federal stimulus funding to provide payments to all claimants waiting for more than three weeks from their initial claim for regular unemployment, extended benefits or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or two weeks from the initial claim when a fact-finding conference has been scheduled.
Establishing a standard to expedite processing for all claimants waiting more than three weeks for an initial payment.
Notifying claimants whether or not they are in “pay” status at least 7 days in advance of any programmatic change that will affect their payments.
Establishing an online “chat” function to enable claimants to more quickly establish the status of their claim or determine the reason for any delay.
Providing notice in multiple languages on the Maine DOL home page of the availability of unemployment benefits generally, and interpreter services for limited English language speakers.