May 5, 2020 3 min read

In a little over seven weeks, the state Department of Labor & Industry has paid more than $5.34 billion in unemployment benefits.

That is virtually three times the $1.8 billion in jobless relief L&I disbursed to Pennsylvanians in all of 2019.

This is one of many barometers of the financial toll the coronavirus has taken in the Keystone State since March 15, which two L&I officials discussed Monday during their weekly WebEx news conference.

“COVID-19 has changed our lives, and we’re doing what we can to navigate this new normal,” said secretary Jerry Oleksiak, who was accompanied by Susan Dickinson, director of Unemployment Compensation Benefits Policy for the department.

L&I’s new normal since the ides of March has included: ongoing installation of a computer system to accommodate a new form of compensation; fielding hundreds of complaints and criticisms over delays, many related to that system; and the expending of a lot of blood, sweat and tears by a beleaguered staff.

That new system is responsible for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program funding, which provides relief for self-employed workers, independent contractors and gig workers and others, who previously were mostly ineligible for UC benefits.

The PUA program came out of the CARES Act, and the computer system went live only two-plus weeks ago. Dickinson said that system should be fully operational by week’s end, which should reduce delays.

“We know things have been difficult, but we’re doing what we can to get you the benefits you deserve,” Oleksiak said.

To alleviate stress on employees, L&I has pumped up the UC staff, which includes 900 teleworking, 500 who have been reassigned there, 70 retirees with UC experience returning and another 250 new hires.

Oleksiak insisted that the department was not understaffed two months ago. “Before the pandemic, we were staffed and funded for low unemployment,” which was the case two months ago, Oleksiak said. “Our system was old. We had to adjust quickly, and we did.”

The workload has been formidable, as the department has made more than 8.9 million payments. Of the $5.34 billion in benefits paid out, nearly $3.9 million has gone to regular UC claimants and more than $1.44 million to federal PUA recipients (including an extra $600 per week).

More than 1.7 million residents statewide have filed for regular UC, and nearly 150,000 for PUA.

Funding for the UC system, the secretary said, may be stressed at some point, but isn’t now. He said the UC trust fund “was on its way to being solvent by summer before this hit. Solvent is at $250%.”

The two officials answered a myriad of questions. Several were related to returning to a job in the midst of a global pandemic, where social distancing is vigorously advocated, but where regions are transitioning from red to yellow, enabling more industries to reopen. Some workers may be reluctant to come back.

Oleksiak said, in general, “If you are called back to work and you don’t go back, you can’t collect unemployment compensation. It can be considered fraud.”

Dickinson added, however, that “it depends on a person’s situation, that they may have a compromised immune system. We would take that into consideration.”