PLEASANTVILLE — The Department of Labor and Workforce Development started in-person unemployment help at 12 One Stop Career Centers around the state Monday, including in Pleasantville, but only claimants contacted by the department were given appointments.
A DOL spokesperson declined to say how many appointments were made for people to resolve ongoing problems with unemployment claims at the Pleasantville One Stop, or statewide, saying she wanted to wait until the end of the week to have accurate data.
“We are continuing to call claimants and schedule appointments,” DOL spokesperson Angela Delli-Santi said Monday. “(We) will provide you with totals for Pleasantville and statewide at the end of the week.”
Delli-Santi said the department will share details on claimant issues brought up and/or resolved at the end of the week as well.
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There is no walk-in help yet available, DOL stressed. Only those with appointments will be seen.
At a Senate Labor Committee hearing earlier this month, Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo announced plans to put 32 unemployment workers in 12 sites as of March 28.
But lawmakers from both sides of the aisle asked him to do more to get face-to-face help to unemployment claimants having difficulty getting their benefits, and to consider opening mega centers in large facilities to clear the backlog of about 11,000 cases waiting for decisions.
At the hearing, Asaro-Angelo said it would take until March 28 to deploy people to the 12 centers, as DOL had to coordinate with counties (who run the centers) and reinstall computer systems.
State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, had called on the centers to reopen by March 1, saying he and his district’s assemblymen and office staff are tired of doing the work of unemployment workers.
The centers have not been open since March 18, 2020, more than 700 days ago. Currently, some job hunting and training services are available on an individual basis by appointment only, but no unemployment help was available, according to those who run the centers.
“Teachers are back in classrooms, first responders are patrolling our streets and medical professionals are in facilities caring for our most vulnerable,” Testa said early this month before the reopening date was announced. “If they can serve out in the community, so can Department of Labor employees.”
Testa said legislative staffs statewide have been handling dozens of unemployment cases every week since the outbreak.
“Now we are seeing claims running six to eight weeks to get a simple response,” Testa said.
A bipartisan bill passed the Legislature last year that would have required the DOL to put unemployment workers in all state legislative offices to help with the deluge of problems, but Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed it saying such an arrangement would not be allowed under federal rules. Murphy said it would give non-executive branch workers access to information that should only be available to the executive branch, and that could jeopardize federal funding.
Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said he and others plan to reintroduce the bill this session.
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