E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
N.M. Jobless Benefits Delayed - Again
By Michael Hartranft
Journal Staff Writer
For the second time in two weeks and the third time this year, thousands of New Mexicans expecting to find their unemployment payments in the bank first thing Monday morning discovered the money wasn't there.
This time, a computer glitch on the Department of Workforce Solutions' end of the process delayed deposits until about 1 p.m., spokeswoman Carrie Moritomo told the Journal.
People waiting for their money were not happy.
"I can understand how things go down, but this has happened three times this year. You should be able to figure it out, one would think ...," John Weitz of Sandia Park said. "It's either the computer, the software or the IT department. It's simple. Fix it."
Added Angie Still of Rio Rancho, who said the family had to pawn an item to pay the gas bill on time because of a glitch two weeks ago, said, "How do you expect people to exist, pay their bills and take care of their family? People rely on this money."
Neither Workforce Solutions Secretary Betty Sparrow Doris nor a deputy director was available for comment about what the department is doing to make sure such glitches don't occur again, the department told the Journal.
In a news release, deputy secretary Ken Ortiz said, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We realize our customers rely on receiving their payments in a timely manner."
Moritomo said the department runs a batch report every night, which basically processes the payments. When the payments have been processed, the file is forwarded to Bank of America.
"(Sunday) night, the batch failed and that automatic transmittal did not go over. We re-ran the batch this morning," she said.
The delay affected 26,000 direct deposit, debit and check payments, Moritomo said.
It was the third deposit delay this year, she said. The most recent occurred Aug. 3 when a problem in the data transfer between the Bank of America and Visa delayed the deposit time until 1:50 p.m. for 19,000 payments to people who receive unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards.
The deposits did not occur until 1:50 p.m. that day. A bank spokeswoman acknowledged it was a processing error by the bank.
Moritomo said another delay occurred in February, which also was related to the batching process.
Weitz of Sandia Park, one of the prepaid debit card holders who worried about paying his bills on time two weeks ago, said his account showed a balance of $2.54 Monday morning.
"Well, I'm not as outraged as much as before — they're wearing off my sharp edges, I'll put it that way — but it's not good," he said.
Still of Rio Rancho said she began making inquiries about her husband's unemployment payment shortly after 8 a.m. Monday. She said he worked in the food and beverage industry, but has been out of work since April.
"When dealing with customer service, it doesn't necessarily matter whose fault it is. I really don't care," she said. "The fact of the matter is it affects people, especially people who are dependent upon this income."
Record numbers
Moritomo said the department is evaluating what occurred Sunday night. She noted it is dealing with an unprecedented number of claimants.
"Our system is stressed," she said. "We have made improvements to deal with the increased volume of individuals and we are evaluating our operations on a daily basis and making improvement as we can."
She said department's spending plan for $13.9 million in federal stimulus funds to make improvements to the unemployment insurance claims system has been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor and New Mexico Office of Recovery and Reinvestment. The department expects to eventually receive a total of $41.8 million, Moritomo said.
The improvements include replacing antiquated equipment and software and making applications fixes, eliminating busy signals and working toward eliminating long distance charges, she said. It will also replace its outdated interactive voice response system.
The department recently upgraded its computer mainframe and server, allowing greater phone and online service capacity, Moritomo said.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
