NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new audit by the state Comptroller’s Office claims the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development is still far behind in paying initial unemployment benefits in a timely manner.
The same as also said about the state hiring enough staff to meet the demand for help.
Much of what was included in the report echoes concerns we heard years ago during the height of the pandemic. Thousands expressed their frustration with an unemployment system that in some cases paid out initial benefits more than a month after they filed their claim.
Daniel Collis had already been waiting more than 17 weeks by the time we spoke with him back in January of 2021.
“They look at your claim and they’re like keep filing. That’s not the answer that we’re looking for, because as individuals, we have our lives. We have bills to pay,” Collis said.
Ted Foti told us he had been waiting for 28 weeks without his first payment.
"Everything is showing in progress and everything is showing I'm being paid zero dollars. It even shows where I was supposed to get a debit card, but I haven't even got that yet. I've got nothing," Foti said.
The audit found that between March 2021 and March 2023, the state was well below the national standard for paying people their first round of unemployment within the first 14 or 35 days.
Before the pandemic, Tennessee was ranked 27 in the country for timely payment of unemployment benefits.
The audit found that Tennessee now ranks 47 on that list.
“Because the division is not meeting first payment standards, claimants are waiting longer to receive unemployment benefits which they are entitled,” auditors wrote.
Auditors prefaced all of this by saying the state’s labor department received 9-10 years’ worth of claims which created a backlog that at one point had more than 90,000 pending claims.
The audit went on to say however, that part of the issue is the division was not sufficiently staffed to handle this many calls for customer service.
Of the millions of calls during the audit period, officials found that less than nine percent of the calls connected to a live agent.
Although the state’s unemployment rate hovers around three percent, officials say the department’s service requests are about double what they were pre-pandemic.
“The Employment Security Division has not adjusted its customer service capacity despite the volume of requests related to unemployment claims remaining at double the pre-pandemic levels,” auditors wrote.
State officials have suggested the TN Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development revise their process and establish clear performance standards. Not just for themselves, but for their vendors as well, so they can handle the number of calls for help.
In response to these recommendations, department officials said, “the department will develop a policy and procedure for reviewing customer service performance. Necessary services, staffing needs, claim type and budget limitations will be reviewed as factors in deciding when staffing changes are needed…The department is in the process of updating the annual risk assessment and it is scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2023.”
