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Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
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Gregory Rec/Staff PhotographerUNEMPLOYMENT QUESTION/ANSWER
Q: What are unemployment benefits and who is eligible?
A: Benefits provide a temporary income to individuals who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The are paid for by employers through unemployment taxes. Workers who quit their jobs, were fired for misconduct, are self-employed or are not actively seeking work are not eligible.
Q: How do I apply for benefits?
A: The fastest option is to file for benefits online, although it may be done by telephone or mail. Filing by phone might lead to long waits and you might get a message to call back. Telephone wait times are typically shorter on Wednesdays and Thursdays and in the afternoon
Q: How much will I receive?
A: The amount is based on your earnings before losing your job. The figure is calculated by dividing the average of your wages in the two highest quarters of your base period by 22. (The base period is the first four of the past five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the benefits claim.) The maximum weekly benefit you can earn is $344, plus as much as $10 per dependent per week. Any earnings greater than $25 will be deducted from weekly benefits.
Q: How long may I receive benefits?
A: The duration of your benefits depends on individual earnings, but it is typically limited to a maximum of 26 weeks. You might qualify for as many as 20 additional weeks of benefits under a temporary Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Benefit program.
Source: Maine Department of Labor
TO FILE ONLINE: WWW.MAINE.GOV/LABOR/UNEMPLOYMENT/CLAIMS.HTML
TO FILE BY PHONE: (800) 593-7660.
TO FILE BY MAIL: OBTAIN FORMS AND MAILING ADDRESS FROM A MAINE CAREER CENTER. THE PORTLAND MAINE CAREER CENTER IS LOCATED AT 185 LANCASTER STREET, AND ITS PHONE NUMBER IS 771-5627 OR (877) 594-5627.
During the past seven working days, more than 120,000 phone calls to Maine's unemployment call centers have gone unanswered or were abandoned in frustration by callers who couldn't get through.
A sharp rise in unemployment claims and a state hiring freeze mean that unemployment office workers can't keep up. Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman and her deputy are opening mail and making photocopies to try to ease the strain on front-line employees.
"Our system is at capacity," Fortman said Tuesday as she visited the Portland Career Center, where she spoke to a job-training group. "We are trying to focus on mission-critical tasks, and that is getting people their checks."
Despite that effort, it now takes at least three weeks to process an initial claim for benefits, compared to the previous norm of 10 to 14 days.
The backup at the state's three unemployment call centers is part of an overall crunch at the Department of Labor, which is struggling to help the increasing number of people who are becoming unemployed during the recession.
In the first week of December, initial unemployment claims were 3,258, more than double the 1,566 for the week of Oct. 18. During the same period, ongoing claims rose to 19,195, up from 11,791.
For the month of November, new claims were up 23 percent from a year earlier, while ongoing and emergency claims were up 74 percent.
The wait times for claimants should ease somewhat in upcoming weeks, now that Gov. John Baldacci has authorized Fortman to hire 10 call center operators, adding to the 18 workers already there.
The workers' salaries and benefits are fully funded by the federal government.
These workers are the point of contact -- along with the state Web site -- for those seeking new unemployment benefits.
The call system allows for several people to be placed on hold simultaneously, but after a certain number are in the queue, a recording tells callers that all lines are full and to call back later. The automated system then disconnects the line.
That's what happened repeatedly to Elisabeth Wyrwicz , a 26-year-old Portland woman who was laid off from a furniture company in August.
"I could never, ever get through," Wyrwicz said. "I did that for three or four days last week. I needed a lot of help and was trying to figure out if I'd be eligible."
According to call center statistics, there were 130,716 abandoned calls in November, almost double the 69,025 from a month earlier. There are already more than 120,000 abandoned calls so far this month.
Michelle Ditmars, laid off when a Scarborough photo processing lab closed last year, said she called the center 50 times in recent days.
"I actually counted it. Last week, I called 38 times. I called 12 times yesterday," said Ditmars, 39, who has a 14-year-old daughter and has been taking Web design courses to improve her job skills. "My questions are really simple. I just needed two minutes. It's so frustrating."
The problem is bad enough that the department's Web site has an advisory, in red letters, about call-center delays, advising people to call midweek and in the afternoon, and urging them to file claims online.
Maine is not alone in seeing delays.
Other states reporting backlogs in processing unemployment claims include Tennessee, New Jersey, Arizona and Pennsylvania. Most of those states have hired additional workers to speed claims, according to published reports. Massachusetts has begun to offer Saturday hours to those filing for benefits.
The 18 call center operators in Maine take calls for about four hours a day and process claims during the remaining time, Fortman said. A year ago, there were 30 people at the call centers; five years ago, there were more than 60 people, she said.
The entire unemployment processing division of the Maine Department of Labor is federally funded, from benefits to computers...
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