Governor Laura Kelly officially accepted the resignation of Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Delia Garcia Monday.
Garcia’s resignation comes on the same day as Governor Kelly announced “multiple actions” she is planning to take in order to address the number of issues which has been impacting the KDOL’s ability to process the overwhelming number of unemployment claims which have been filed due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the Kansas economy in recent months. Reasons for Garcia’s sudden resignation have not been given.
Governor Kelly’s Deputy Chief of Staff Ryan Wright has been selected to serve as the acting Secretary of Labor until a new permanent Secretary is selected. According to a news release from the governor’s office, Kelly is also looking to bring in “specialists” whose sole focus will be identifying new ways to improve response times for Kansans applying for unemployment benefits, implement a new caseload management process and develop mitigation strategies to prevent any future backlogs or errors from occurring with the payment delivery process.
In the aforementioned release Governor Kelly states, “As Governor, I’m responsible for KDOL’s handling of unemployment claims. I am taking immediate action to ensure Kansans who are out of work, through no fault of their own, are getting the assistance they need.”
Governor Kelly is scheduled to hold a news conference at 4 pm Monday afternoon. You can listen into that conference on KVOE 1400 AM, 96.9 FM and KVOE.com.
