UPDATE: Oregon says it has fixed weekend stumble that told some laid-off workers to restart jobless claims

Newly unemployed Oregonians encountered further trouble with the state’s system for filing jobless claims Sunday, reporting that the state told them to start over with their applications – even if they had already been receiving benefits.

The Oregon Employment Department apologized last week for a series of breakdowns in its system that has prevented many people from filing for benefits. Statewide, at least 1 in 8 Oregonians have lost their jobs in the past few weeks – nearly 270,000 altogether, as the state’s economy shut down in hopes of containing the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers who successfully file their claims must refile each week to continue receiving benefits. In Sunday’s breakdown, the employment department’s filing system instructed those laid-off workers to “Restart Your Claim” from the beginning, according to screenshots claimants provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The system incorrectly told workers they had to start over because of changes in their employment status.

Update: The Oregon Employment Department said Monday that Sunday’s stumbles affected a “small portion” of claimants. It says some of those people who received a “restart” message may, in fact, need to restart their claims. It suggests claimants with continued issues email the department at OED_COVID19_Info@oregon.gov.

It’s not clear just how many people are getting the erroneous messages Sunday but dozens of people wrote on Twitter they had encountered the problem.

My claim won't let me file this week @ORemployment it says I need to restart because I worked last week. For both me and my husband and we did NOT work. Been off now for close to a month and not even sure claims have been officially processed. At some point we will need money. — Toni (@BuffyGroupie) April 12, 2020

The department’s website acknowledges a problem and says a fix is coming soon. Gail Krumenauer, the department’s communications director, said the department fixed an issue last week that erroneously directed people to restart their claim. Sunday’s issue appears separate.

“We understand anyone’s frustration who experiences an issue in a stressful time trying to seek unemployment benefits,” Krumenauer wrote in an email. “We are compassionate about that difficulty, and want to do everything we can to serve the public to the best of our ability, while facing absolutely record-shattering levels of claims on a decades old legacy system. We truly apologize for any inconveniences anyone experiences.”

The flood of jobless claims has overwhelmed the employment department. While some people with straightforward claims are able to file for benefits online, the department has acknowledged its system has incorrectly told others that their claims have been denied.

Some claims require people to speak by phone with the department, but its call centers have been inundated by a flood of new claims, exacerbated by confusing messages from the department’s website.

And the department said its computer systems will not allow it to waive the “waiting week” before benefits start for newly laid-off workers, even though Congress provided funding for states to start paying benefits immediately.

This article has been updated with additional information from the employment department.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway |

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