The pandemic unemployment assistance was
temporarily delayed for
three weeks and
then all of a sudden they stopped.
I have not heard a good
explanation for what's going on,
and so it remains to be seen
what's going to happen next for
more than three months.
10s of thousands of Arizonans
have sought unemployment insurance
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The process is far from easy. Now,
countless Arizonans consider a lawsuit
after unexplained delays, glitches
and account closures.
This is everything you need to know
about unemployment insurance in Arizona.
I haven't received a penny.
It's been crazy know what the timeline
is until I'm going to have money again.
I'm Katie Wilcox,
the investigative executive producer,
and joining me is Reporter Colleen Sikora.
We're recording this on July
21st and Colleen obviously you
this week and several members
of our team have spoken to.
I don't even know how many people
talking about their most recent
problems with unemployment,
what what's the most recent
sort of big issue that started
back on July 11? So it's
it's people who lived in Arizona.
They worked here,
they they paid into unemployment,
then they moved out of state for whatever
reason and now all of a sudden they
found their accounts to be closed.
They went a lot of them,
went to go use the debit card that
Desp gives them and had no money on it.
And some people even told us, you know,
as recently as an hour before that
it was working and so they found that
the accounts were completely drained.
Some people have kept, you know.
Several weeks worth of payments on these
cards and it was all refunded back to DS.
DS tells us that it was all because of fraud
investigation. But you know, a lot
of people that we talked to ensure
that documentation that this
is you know who we say we are.
You know, we we applied,
we were receiving benefits.
We don't know what
happened. I received an email from
Kohl's letting me know that they were
closing the stores due to the virus.
Everything that we could go ahead
and apply for unemployment.
Both oriented Norman say
they filed for unemployment.
They were both approved and have been
receiving benefits since March but a few
days ago I went to go pay something at
the grocery store and it got declined.
So I come home and it shows that the
account is closed for Bank of America card.
That's supposed to be loaded
with benefits was drained.
Her statement shows the money
was refunded back to DES.
And her account closed.
The same thing happened in
Norman and dozens of other people
who reached out to 12
news. I just couldn't understand
how you can close a card without
investigating the fraud first,
'cause if they wouldn't be guest investigated
first, they would have known there
was no fraud. They just shut
everybody down for Colleen. Obviously,
that came as a shock to to their family,
but the Department of Economic Security
has struggled since April to get these
funds to the right people, right?
Yeah, it's it's been a month long process
now with one problem after another.
Alot of these you know have
been things that have continued.
I mean this this started way back, you know.
April 612 News learned of problems
with TSS computer system that
they were using so dodina actually
revealed that the technology was older
than a lot of the people that were
actually applying for the benefit.
Hey guys, a lot of the backlog
here is because of technology.
The state's unemployment processing system is
older than any computer
you have in your own home.
It's a program that they began using
in 1988, so 1988. I
think what we know now is
having that kind of, you know,
age in your system and those
Kings at the beginning,
people did start to get paid, right?
I mean people are.
Some people are getting
their benefits right.
Yeah, you know I had someone
ask me even today, they're like
well did they run out of money?
Well no people are still getting
paid there's there's still money,
their money is going out just
not everyone is receiving it.
And I wanted to look back.
So we've looked at them at the money
and looks like around mid April was
the first time that more than $100
million a $100 million through this
system went out in a single week.
But coming out after that,
I know you were seeing and I certainly
was seeing just emails messages.
Anyway, people could figure
out how to contact us.
The number of voice mails of
people saying we need help.
We need help.
So what did DS start
to do then?
Back then you know they were
trying to get the pandemic
unemployment assistance on line that
was signed back on March
27th by President Trump,
but it didn't actually go into
effect until May 12 through DDS.
And you know, many self-employed
Arizonans were really counting on that,
right? We're talking more than a month.
It took them to get that on line,
and the interim director at the time,
Tom Betlach. Said that,
they plan to spend $2,000,000 to hire
this group from Florida to handle
all of these claims and so then
May 12th it's supposed to launch.
Suppose we know that $600 bonus.
But a glitch delayed the launch and
it's these glitches that have kind of
come up that again delayed this launch.
That doesn't mean everybody
is going to get pushed through
on that date, so we want to make
sure those expectations are clear.
We're going to run into issues
and transitioning data.
We're going to have to review some cases.
We're still working with the team in terms
of what that actual process
looks like. June 23rd.
This was a new problem that we hadn't
had where people contacted the same.
I got this debit card full of
money on it talking 5 to $6000
worth of money and they never
applied for unemployment.
This is what I got.
Basically it turns out there was $5950
on. It's very very disturbing.
I don't know how somebody
got our information.
I just wish I could do something
immediately work somebody could
get this money and and The thing is
at the time you know people would
say you know I've tried calling BS.
I've tried calling Bank of America.
I can't get this funding back to DS.
So you have people who,
on one hand or sitting there waiting
for their unemployment benefits who
are trying to pay their mortgages,
their rents, their car payments, etc.
Their grocery bills and
take care of their kids.
For people who are,
you know, so grateful.
They're like you know what I'm
I've been OK through all of this.
And also I'm sitting on thousands of
dollars and TS can't tell me how to give
it back since June. Have you got to
do any interviews with the Department
of Economic Security specifically?
Now we've we've asked,
I've asked since June 16th.
I have the email where I asked
for an interview on these issues.
And it's either mostly it's been ignored,
you know, it just gets passed over
and emails and we never get to
set it up by we bring it up, etc.
Our colleagues have asked Katie,
you Baston, Bram Resnick has asked,
and we've either been declined or ignored.
And I mean at this point you know
we're talking about more than a month.
And you know these people.
You know they they call in
there and they're just.
They're just hoping for any
information we can give up,
and they're at the point.
Now you know where you know some
people when I talk to you today
hasn't gotten payments for.
He says 10 weeks.
And.
When you when you start going
without money for that long,
it starts getting really hard.
This
thing we know this
is a hardship that no this
is going to put many people in
hardship but just we thank you for
your patience. Like alright you
can say that because you have a
job. You know what I mean.
Like we don't have to
go and like you said, we seek answers.
That's like what we do, you know.
And to walk away without Answers
Week after week and to hear
people Stories Week after week,
it's hard. It's a glimpse of the
frustration that those people
who are waiting on all logs that
exactly the people who were talking
to Captain Answers who cannot get
their actual money that they are
entitled to according to the law.
Sitting there waiting with empty bank
accounts and we've talked about so
many crazy things I don't want to
leave out the bizarre mess of sending
debit cards when you open the account,
there's a $0.00 balance and then all
leading back to these last two weeks
where 28,000 accounts were closed.
Ndes says that they took back $70 million.
Now, when you heard that statistic, what?
What was your reaction?
You know, it's one of those OK $70 million.
Hopefully some of that was in those those
five or $6000 cards you know
that were sent out back in June.
But also, I thought about you know
people like Orient. You know who had?
More than $1000 on that card.
Or her husband, who had,
I think more than 3000 was sitting
there waiting to pay their bills. And
you know the permanent economic security
said they had less than 1000 emails
from people who thought that their
accounts were wrongly closed at the
time. Yeah, I think that in Katy.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I think this is one of the one of
the issues that we received the
most emails and calls and messages
about the number of people who, for
whatever reasons and circumstances,
worked in Arizona and now live out of
state and just saw those accounts.
Closed in it, blink of an eye.
Think that that happened to 28,000
accounts and we don't know we're
not able to get an access to
the data and the accounting of.
Who's worthy? Who's were those?
Were the fraudulent? Were they using?
How do you do this fraud?
I'm very curious about, you know,
are they fake Social Security
numbers or are they real people
socials that someone has stolen?
There's so little information here
that it becomes almost impossible
to have any kind of accountability.
And at the end of the day,
when you're dealing with.
Hundreds of millions of dollars,
potentially even in a single week to
billions of dollars in unemployment
benefits and thousands and thousands
and thousands of Arizonans counting on
this to be able to pay their next bills.
It puts us in a really dire straits,
which is something that you
worked on again today.
I think the emails have really
progressed to, you know,
from OK I can't get my money.
I can't get my money.
Yeah this is annoying.
Yes this is really frustrating now
I'm mad now I can't pay my bills.
Now I'm looking at being homeless.
Interstate today was about that,
you know what?
What resources are out there for people?
You know to to get them assistance.
You know there is.
There is some out there which is
good but also their systems are are
getting overwhelmed to wildfire,
which is a nonprofit that's been
contacted by the City of Phoenix to
dole out there Cares Act funding.
They said one of their agencies
is getting 3 to 400 calls a day.
And you know they're not alone in that.
You know Saint Vincent DePaul said
today that now they're helping people
who have never had to ask for help before.
And it just kind of speaks to
the volume you know of people who
have been hit by this pandemic and
the people who are needing these
benefits and can't get an answer
on why they are not getting them.
And people are starting to worry,
you know, with.
You know the cares,
act and input is expiring on 31st.
They're going then what?
You know,
will I ever get paid for for
all of this that I has been in
progress for for weeks?
Or will it just be like, well,
it's gone now, so sorry.
As he stood
here today, and when recording this
on July 21st, and this is exactly six
months since the United States recorded
its first coronavirus positive test.
You'd like to think you know,
maybe you know this is
kind of a one issue deal,
but I think after weeks and
weeks of reporting on this,
it's clear that it's not just OK,
they were overwhelmed one thing,
or they were overwhelmed one week. Or
they were overwhelmed one month.
It's. It's a. Saga of issues.
Some point I think people are like,
well, what else can? What else can
I do? We know Congress is this week
looking at another stimulus package.
What's the next step and what we know
through your reporting and through
our teams reporting at 12 news.
There are a lot of people who
still really need this help.
There's so much reporting on this
and people who have questions or
people who need to go back and say,
you know what?
Maybe I am going to write to my legislator
today and say this is what's happening to me.
And maybe there will be more of
this push to say.
Well, if if the Department of
Economic Security means a new
computer system or they need an
overhaul to be able to handle these
claims or they need additional
people to investigate fraud while
maintaining smooth sailing for
those of us who are legitimate.
Reach the point where it's email
your local legislators reach out
to them because they need to know
you know they're they're the ones
that can do something actively.
You know they can take in traffic.
I appreciate what you've done
and I think, yeah, this is
it's a lot to look back on over these
last six months and then more acutely,
April May, June, and now July of
the unemployment crisis. Yeah, you
know, I think our team is has
really been dedicated since the
beginning to look at this and to
really ask why is this happening.
And I think that's a question that
we're still going to be working
on to find.
And now an update after recording this
podcast, The Department of Economic
Security agreed to an interview
with 12 news on Wednesday, July 29,
DDS Director Michael Wisehart will
speak with calling Sakura stay with
12 News for that full interview.