After trying unsuccessfully at least four times over the last two days to file my initial unemployment claim on the Internet, today I tried using the phone system.
It worked and it worked unbelievably great. I answered the 20 simple questions. In one minute (I timed it) a representative was on the phone with me – Christine Disnoti – who helped set my claim up in the system. She was efficient, sympathetic, knowledgeable, and has a great sense of humor.
However, her bosses still can’t get anything right. On the Internet site the Labor Department tells you that telephone operators are available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When you call, however, the automated spiel tells you that operators are available 7:30 to 5:30.
The ACTUAL times when operators will answer the phone is 7:45 to 7 p.m.
And again Christine, thanks for all you do for everyone. At least your bosses made a good decision to hire you. I hope they pay you well, because for people like you I am happy to pay my taxes.
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What you say about the initial stuff is true, George, but I have found that either very Sunday morning (after 12:30 a.m.) or after about 10 a.m. Sunday morning you can file your weekly claims without issues.
Good luck – as I have said before, I do sure hope something comes along.
Unemployment wasn’t any better in Colorado either back in April. I was able to sign up online but the regular benefits and extended benefit sites looked almost EXACTLY the same. So guess what, I signed up for extended benefits. Luckily, my state senator helped in getting a call from unemployment – a wonderful lady helped me and my benefits were backdated as I proved what had happened.
The phone lines were busy for hours on end and when you did get through, you were on hold for sometimes over an hour. My wait once was 1 hour 21 minutes.
Well George, I’m sure unemployment won’t even touch to near the amount you were making but you are eligible and entitled to it!
Good luck with future weeks of calling in.
George,
Having been on unemployment through Connecticut since April 2008 (!) I can commiserate with your experience. Generally I file my weekly claim via the internet; there have been days when I have hurled venomous epithets at my computer (poor messenger!) for the slowness or complete unresponsiveness of the site. It sometimes took over 1/2 hour to file the report. BUT… a few weeks ago the department started performing system maintenance on Sunday and Monday between noon and 12:15. File an hour or so after that, and you whiz right through in only a few minutes. Now, if only getting a job were that easy when you are over 50 and “over qualified”!
Governor Rell says she is going to push for congress to extend unemployment benefits….it seems that whatever congress has in mind for Unemployed americans will only benefit individuals living in states where the unemployment rate is 9.5% or higher. It boggles my mind. An unemployed person is an unemployed person is an unemployed person…….whatever state your in. This is crazy. And as crazy as it seems, I can’t find a job for the life of me and because I live in CT, chances are, I will have a very rough time in the upcoming months. I didn’t ask for this to happen….it just did and I’m scared to death. I’ve been without work for a year and a half….I no longer receive benefits….I can’t even afford now, to cloth my children, give them money to spend at the school store or buy an icecream treat. I can’t afford to visit my elderly parents…I haven’t seen them in almost two years. My son likes to skate board and I can’t even give him the chance to do what he loves. I cry a lot over this and I don’t know when its going to end. I don’t remember the last time I felt at peace. Please, let’s all get together and voice our opinions to our congressman. I’m praying for all of you out there in the same situation….maybe that will help…..sometimes I even feel like I’m being punished.
Renee- I am in the exact situation that you are in. I have worked all my life in good paying management jobs and at the age of 52 I am finding myself unable to secure a job anywhere – even 10.00 an hour job.
Whoever decided to introduce the bill that extends unemployment benefits in states with 9.5% unemployment must be a real idiot! As if it is easy to get a job in CT with 7.8-8.0% unemployment at a time that there absolute no new jobs created. The 7.8% rate for July’s unemployment in CT is not a true rate. The reason it is lower than June is because many people have exhausted their benefits and were dropped off the “unemployed” list. These people are manipulating the media releases to show that the labor market is getting better. The true unemployment rate in CT is far above what they tell us that it is. Again, it appears artificially lower because whoever is not no longer collecting because they have exhausted their benefits are not counted!
Please write letters to everybody in Congress and tell our President to quit talling non-stop about health care reform while he does nothing at the moment to extend this lifeline of income to many in our situation. Paying my rent and putting food on the table is my top priority not National Health Care reform. If the President does not have the money to extend our benefits then he should delay National Health Care reform. Better yet, he can keep his promise of bringing troops back from Iraq and instead of sending more troops to Afghanistan he better take care of our people in this country. Yeah, he kept saying that he is going to bring troops back within 6 months after he became President…
Write to him and ask that all unemployed people in all states should receive extended benefits until Obama’s promise of millions of jobs materializes. Until that happens we have to eat and pay rent. And, going on wellfare is not the answer. I will never vote for Obama again, unless he gets his priorities straight and stops being stubborn about passing healthe carew reform now just because he says so. Unemployment extension should be his top priority at the moment. He can forget the rhetoric about healthcare and help us put food on the table and prevent us from becoming homeless. I personally skip meals because I can afford the high food prices. If Obama cares about our health that much then he should make sure that have a lifeline of income to get us through this period before he can convince us that he cares about our health.
DO NOT VOTE FOR ANYONE WHO TRIES TO BLOCK UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EXTENSION TO ALL STATES UNTIL AT LEAST NEXT YEAR WHEN THE LABOR MARKET STARTS TO TRULY RECOVER. SEND A STRONG MESSAGE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND OUR PRESIDENT THAT 2010 AND 2012 ARE NOT FAR AWAY… WE WILL NOT FORGET THEIR INACTION. 2010 AND 2012 WILL BE PAYBACL TIME FOR EACH AND EVRYONE OF OUR REPRESENTANTIVES THAT DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CONSTITUENTS IN NEED.
Hi Natasha,
I don’t know if you have read the article in the Courant yesterday, but whomever wrote it doesn’t know what they are talking about. Because of errors in the inputting of unemployment numbers, June’s unemployment rate fell by .1 % to 7.9%. This means August’s rate would need to be 8.3%….not 8.2% as reported by the Courant…..I was very upset that these reporters and DOL spokespeople don’t even know what’s going on. It will be virtually impossible for the rate to jump by .5%.
I have contacted Governor Rell, our states senators, the senators of other states who want to extend benefits in states that have higher than 9.5% unemployment and even Nancy Pelosi. Do you think I have gotten a response? No.
There are few articles in my hours of research that say they may extend benefits for a shorter time like 10 weeks for states like CT who are under 9.5%…..and longer for higher jobless states. This wouldn’t be a bad thing…the reason being is that we would get more accurate numbers of unemployed in the upcoming months, therefore extending CT’s rate even longer.
Isn’t it a shame? It hurts so bad not being able to provide for my children….I can go without, but they shouldn’t suffer. I have been under such an insurmountable amount of stress, I’ve forgotten the last time I could just take a deep breath and relax.
Natasha, I hope things get better for you. If you are interested in having someone to talk to, email me at devoefamily4@aol.com.
If you file online at 3:30 am Sunday your claim will go through and be processed on Monday. Inconvenient yes..but effective
Unless you try at 3:30 am and the system is busy. Yes I tried to file between 2-4am this morning and net was down. The phone systems sound like they don’t even ring just instant disconnect. The system in place atm is terriable.
My benefits expired and I was told I need to talk to an representative by phone to extend them. However, I have been trying to do that for the past 3 weeks and cannot get through. I get a busy signal, or a recording saying that all circuits are busy (I think that comes from the phone company). When I actually have managed to get the tele-benefits line, I get a recording saying that they have a high call volume and to please call back. Then they disconnect me. I have not had a check in 3 weeks and my hands seems to be tied. What am I supposed to do?
I’m in the same boat – I have to talk to a representative, but I haven’t been able to get through in almost three weeks. What am I supposed to do? Calling unemployment is a full-time job in itself!