The Kansas Department of Labor is expanding its resources and procedures to help process the overwhelming number of unemployment claims in recent weeks.
During Governor Laura Kelly’s daily press conference Thursday afternoon, Department of Labor Secretary Delia Garcia outlined the department’s newest filing process known as gating. Garcia explains the process instructs residents to file claims on specific days according to the first letter of their last name.
The gating process will help the department to reduce some of the strain currently placed on its online system which has been bombarded by thousands of filings in recent weeks. Garcia and Governor Kelly both state that addressing the department’s aging online infrastructure, which is over 40-years old, remains a top priority at this time.
In addition to the new process, Garcia also announced the department is hiring over a dozen new staff members to help address the overwhelming call load to the department. According to Governor Kelly, the Department of Labor received over 1.6 million calls in a single day last week and has continuously broken the million call mark on several occasions since.
Garcia says training for new hires typically takes around six months to complete, however, given the scope of the situation they will be condensing that training into a span of three weeks.
Garcia’s comments Thursday mirrored her comments from Wednesday morning when she joined KVOE’s Talk of Emporia segment. For more information visit www.GetKansasbenefits.gov or find the Kansas Department of Labor on social media.
Governor Laura Kelly’s daily press briefings are scheduled to continue Friday at 2 pm. You can listen to the briefing in its entirety on KVOE 1400 am and 96.9 fm.
