240K unemployment claims filed last week in Georgia, but many still have issues with benefits

ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor has released new numbers of how many people filed for unemployment in the state.

Nearly 3 million people filed unemployment claims last week nationally, which brings the two-week total to more than 36 million.

[Here’s how to file for unemployment if your job has been affected by coronavirus]

Last week, state officials processed 242,772 claims. Of the weekly total, 174,894 were employer-filed claims, 72 percent of all claims.

Since the middle of March, the GDOL has processed 1,840,365 regular initial unemployment claims. Of these claims, 812,281 were valid with enough earned wages to receive benefits and 575,000 Georgians (85 percent of all eligible claimants) have already received their first payment.

“We have issued an unemployment payment to more than 575,000 people in the state of Georgia,” Commissioner Mark Butler said. “That is more recipients than the past four years combined.”

Last week, the GDOL issued regular weekly unemployment benefits totaling $176,279,896. Over the last eight weeks, almost $800 million has been paid in regular unemployment benefits.

We’ve been telling you stories of people struggling to collect those benefits for several weeks now. People are still having a hard time getting through jammed phone lines and speaking to overwhelmed staff.

[Georgia struggling with “unprecedented” unemployment levels]

Channel 2’s Justin Gray spoke to Ashley Quinn on Thursday. She’s a self-employed, single mom, a gig worker in Clayton County, who was approved for benefits in March but still hasn’t received any money.

"I tried every way, the emails, the phone numbers, DMs … I’ve even emailed when we sent our documents begging someone to respond begging someone for a call. We just definitely need it. It’s everybody, it’s not just me,” Quinn said.

Butler said in recent days, his office has brought back recent retirees, hired a private firm and reprogrammed computer systems to try to answer claims faster.

[Ga. Dept. of Labor: Unemployment filings are down, but there’s a long way to go]

Gray also spoke with Kimberly Marsh, a Paulding County dental hygienist, who said her employer told her it would stop filing for her unemployment benefits if she doesn’t come back to work, even though her family has lost their child care.

“The day care we were using is permanently closed,” Marsh said. “I thought they’d be more reasonable with having small children, more understanding and I don’t think that has been the case.”

Butler said employees with child care gaps or health problems can keep collecting benefits during the coronavirus crisis and employers who refuse to file on their behalf will be stuck with the bill.

“If you’re an employer and you decide you want to call employees back and ignore those rules, they can go file an individual claim,” Butler said.

Butler said there is huge confusion from self-employed and gig workers. He said 50% of the people who are due benefits haven’t received them yet because they haven’t certified their weeks in the system.

He said those workers need to use a separate portal than the one everyone else files in.

Stimulus payments are tax-free, but unemployment benefits are taxed Stimulus payments are tax-free, but unemployment benefits are taxed

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