Press Release
April 7, 2020

Department of Workforce Services provides additional Unemployment Insurance resources
New FAQs and information provided for claimants

SALT LAKE CITY (April 7, 2020) — New unemployment insurance resources, in addition to those previously provided, are now available at jobs.utah.gov/covid19.

The new resources include an FAQ for filing your weekly claim and an overview of the unemployment insurance claim process. These are supplemental to the FAQs already available for employees, employers and the CARES Act.

“We hope these documents are helpful to individuals as they apply for unemployment insurance benefits,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Department of Workforce Services. “We recognize that for many this is the first time they have used our system and want to provide as much guidance as we can as they wait for their claims to be processed.”

The Unemployment Insurance Division is currently processing a record high number of claims that nearly exceeds the total number of claims in all of 2019. Despite these increased demands the team continues to process and deploy benefits.  In fact, 85% of claims from the first week of the COVID-19 impact (March 15-21) are now processed thus meeting the 21 day expectation of service during normal circumstances. However, in the second week (March 22-28) Unemployment Insurance saw a 2,400% increase in claim submissions.  As a result, individuals should expect to see disruptions to normal service levels including high call and chat wait times as well as 21-30 days for processed claims.

The department asks that individuals continue to apply online and file their weekly claim. If there is an issue or any question about their claim, the Department of Workforce Services will contact them, there is no need for them to contact the department.

The weekly Unemployment Insurance Claims Report will be released on Thursday, April 9, 2020, with data for the week of March 29-April 4. 

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