Dear friends and neighbors,

Over the past week, I have received hundreds of inquiries from Nebraskans all across the state about struggles with obtaining unemployment benefits. I know that many of you are experiencing trouble with the website, delays in benefits, and struggling to connect with help, and I can tell you that’s consistent with what I am hearing from other Nebraskans. I want to share some guidance that will hopefully help you navigate the process and give you some peace of mind.

• The Nebraska Department of Labor asks individuals to contact them by phone (855-995-8863) or email (NDOL.UnemploymentHelp@nebraska.gov) about any question, because they need personally sensitive information in order to look into details about your claim. This unfortunately isn’t something my office can do on behalf of any individual. If you have already applied for unemployment, there will be a claim they can look into for you.
• Under the CARES Act passed by Congress, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA) is applied to individuals who would not generally qualify for unemployment assistance, including independent contractors, hair stylists, aestheticians, etc. If your application is denied at the state level, it will still be reviewed to figure out if you are eligible for federal PUA. This process is likely to take longer because the application has to go through the process of being denied before qualifying for PUA. Under the PUA, applicants are eligible to receive:
  • Up to 39 weeks of benefits starting with weeks of unemployment beginning February 2, 2020 through December 26, 2020, depending on when you became directly impacted by the pandemic.
  • An additional $600 to each weekly benefit amount you may be eligible to receive, as part of the separate CARES Act Pandemic Additional Compensation program. Only the weeks of a claim between March 29 and July 25 are eligible for the extra $600 payment.
• Reminder: You must file a claim every week in order to remain eligible for these federal benefits! You can do that easily through the online interface at http://neworks.nebraska.gov.
• Finally, it’s important that you reach out to your State Senator (if it’s not me). They have the staff and capacity to process constituent requests and many keep records of each case, and will follow up to make sure your problem was resolved. Your Senator is your best advocate.

If it’s taking a while to hear back from the Department of Labor, keep trying. I understand from personal experience that this can be a very frustrating and overwhelming process. The Department staff is also overwhelmed, and they do understand that you and many others need this assistance immediately. When the pandemic began, the Department of Labor only had a few dozen adjudicators to process claims. Now the DoL is in the process of training over 200 new workers to help with the backlog. It’s not ideal, it’s going to take patience, but if you keep filing your claims and reach out to them with specific questions about your claim, you will be taken care of.

Over 83,000 Nebraskans have filed for unemployment in the past month. Every worker who has experienced a layoff or furlough is going through this same frustration, and I know the workers at the Department of Labor are doing the best to help every single person affected. As always, please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Email is the best way to get in touch with me, at mhunt@leg.ne.gov.

Many thanks,
Meg