LIHUE – Applying for unemployment has been a headache for many Kaua‘i residents who are working to file claims after being furloughed or laid off from their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wailua resident Rebekah Magers has been a server at Tortilla Republic for the past year and started filing for unemployment on March 20, after the restaurant reduced operations to take-out only. She filled out all the forms on the state’s unemployment insurance website, only to discover days later that she didn’t click all the right links on the website.
And Magers is still waiting to hear if she followed all the right steps.
“Finally I was able to create a username and password but then received an error when I would try to log on,” Magers said. “A little frustrated I decided to file another claim on April 7. I am not sure if my initial claim was ignored and my second claim was accepted. It appears my account is saying that my claim week started on April 5, so maybe my second claim was lost from March 23.”
Kekaha resident and Lihu‘e hair salon owner Terence Dabis Waialeale filed for unemployment on March 24, and has been doing so every week since. It took him weeks to get everything filed correctly online, and he still hasn’t seen any results in the mail.
“Being that we are self-employed if we’re not working we don’t have any means of income coming in. When we heard the news about self-employed could file for unemployment we all jumped on that bandwagon,” said Dabis Waialeale.“I’m blessed to have most of my bills deferred, but some of them I still have to pay. I honestly can’t wait to get back to work.”
Unemployment has been greatly affected by COVID-19, both at the state and national levels, and recent changes in application procedures have muddled up the process for residents looking to take advantage of unemployment while they are out of work.
Hawai‘i Department of Labor director Scott Murakami, in a recent press release, explained with a broadened definition under the program, the department has to match applications with tax data. New types of matching systems have presented challenges for the department.
Koloa resident Jabrielle Richarde worked in the food and beverage industry and had two jobs before the pandemic.
“I got furlough at one and laid off at the other. So I took the steps and signed up for unemployment on March 23,” said Richarde. “A lot of my friends and ‘ohana signed up after me and [have already] received deposit information.”
Richarde and her ‘ohana have had similar experiences to Magers — busy phone lines and communication gridlock when trying to reach the state unemployment office. Richarde said she’s been trying everyday for a couple of hours and still hasn’t been able to get into her account.
“I keep reminding myself to have patience and keep trying,” Richarde said.
Both Richarde and Magers suggest a Kaua‘i-specific FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions] section on the state Labor Department website to help answer questions and direct residents to successful filing for unemployment.
Recently, Mayor Derek Kawakami addressed the issues with filing for unemployment, reminding residents the unemployment office is managed by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and they’ve admittedly been having difficulty in processing the drastic spike in new applications in recent weeks.
“They are making continuous improvements to their operations,” Kawakami said.
More info: HUIclaims.Hawaii.gov. or call Kaua‘i Claims Office at 274-3043
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Stephanie Shinno, features and community reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com. Associated press contributed to this article.
