DLT to unemployment customers: Peak claim period has arrived

SCOTT R. Jensen, director of the R.I. Department of
Lobor and Training, said, "One way our customers can help us serve them better is by providing complete and accurate information concerning their identity and work history when filing their claims." / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
SCOTT R. Jensen, director of the R.I. Department of Lobor and Training, said, "One way our customers can help us serve them better is by providing complete and accurate information concerning their identity and work history when filing their claims." / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

(Updated 2:21 p.m.)
CRANSTON – Rhode Islanders filing unemployment claims are being advised by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training that the Unemployment Insurance Call Center is experiencing one of its busiest stretches of the year due to a seasonal influx.

According to information from DLT, with the state’s 306 schools now closed for the summer, claims filed by bus drivers, substitute teachers and school food-service workers have risen substantially.

DLT estimates that the influx will eventually total 5,000 claims by the week ending July 9.

The agency said it has managed to shave nearly 10.5 minutes off the average call wait time compared with a year ago

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DLT spokesman Michael Healey said that the agency was able to achieve this by having Call Center staff undergo “lean” training to identify and eliminate process and structural snags that were causing customer-service delays.
“They’ve spent the four or five months since the winter peak period implementing the changes identified by the lean training to speed things up for customers and prepare for the summer peak period,” Healey wrote in an email. “Second – and lean training helped with this too – we’re using real-time data, really, for the first time to manage and deploy our Call Center staff.”

Meanwhile, the agency is offering tips to help customer avoid delays when filing for benefits or calling over the next three weeks.

Tips include:

  • Having all relevant information handy before clicking or calling, such as a job separation notice, pay stub, names of all employers and dates of all employment over the past 18 months, and hours worked for the most recent calendar week of employment as well as identity information such as Social Security Number and driver’s license number.
  • Filing online instead of by telephone. Here is the online claim form for UI customers.
  • Keeping the confirmation number that’s given at the end of filing a claim. This number is needed when customers check the status of their claims online themselves or when speaking with someone in the Call Center.
  • Consider calling ((401) 243-9100) on a less busy day. Mondays and Tuesdays are the Call Center’s busiest days of the week. Thursdays and Fridays are the least busy. The Call Center does not accept calls on Wednesdays so that staff can process claims, a task essential to keeping call wait times down, according to the DLT.

“One way our customers can help us serve them better is by providing complete and accurate information concerning their identity and work history when filing their claims,” DLT Director Scott R. Jensen said. “A clean claim means a faster eligibility decision and a faster benefit payment.”

For the week that ended June 18, with many schools out for the summer, Call Center employees took in 1,129 claims, compared with 716 claims for the week ending June 11. For the week ending June 25, the Call Center received 1,767 claims. DLT estimates it will receive 1,400 more claims this week and another 1,000 next week for a total of 5,000 received during the summer peak period.

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