PROVIDENCE – Matt Weldon, acting director at the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, said he would like to institute a small-business ombudsman at DLT to play a role in aiding small businesses in the state.
“We don’t have dedicated resource lines staffed at a level necessary to be responsive to the business community,” said Weldon in an interview with PBN. “The idea [with an ombudsman] is to provide a consistent voice to the community, and an ear to the community, so we can hear what their concerns are, work with them on issues that range across what DLT does, not just unemployment.”
Weldon previously served as the DLT’s assistant director. He assumed the acting director role on Feb. 23 when DLT Director Scott Jenson stepped down as part of staff changes in the Raimondo administration as the governor prepares to depart for Washington for the position of U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
Weldon has been a weekly guest every Tuesday on Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s Facebook live town hall meetings.
Weldon said he also hopes to create a dedicated hotline for businesses that allows DLT to be more responsive during the pandemic.
“I have always said in my government career that government is not always the most agile of things, however it should be responsive,” said Weldon. “You should be able to get your call answered or get an answer out of an agency when your business depends on it. And we’re going to do that.”
Weldon also said the department is “laser focused” on helping the unemployed in Rhode Island.
The good news for the state and the DLT, is that there has recently been a decline in the number of unemployment claims filed with the state.
The department announced on Tuesday that pandemic unemployment assistance program filings totaled 3,997, a decline from 5,443 one week prior. COVID-specific filings for the week totaled 6,664, a decline from 12,617 one week prior. To date, COVID unemployment insurance filings in the state total 395,607.
“Our claim numbers have gone down a little bit over the last two to three weeks,” said Weldon. “That is a good thing. We would attribute that to a couple of things. One is a rebounding economy, with the easing of some of the restrictions, and people getting back to work.”
The second, he said, is the DLT’s handling of the unemployment fraud scheme that has plagued it for the past year. Weldon said implementation of new technology “is grabbing claims at the beginning and preventing them from being filed, if certain indicators are present.”
The third, he said, is a combination of a decline in weekly certifications and people’s claims ending. “It’s good because it means people are going back to work, but it also unfortunately means that some people’s claims are coming to an end,” said Weldon, noting that some claimants are part of the newly created federal 50-week program.
The program is the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, and it is geared toward gig economy workers, self-employed workers and people that wouldn’t usually qualify for unemployment.
The question becomes, what about individuals who have exhausted their benefits and remain unemployed?
“We can target those individuals and try to provide help, and that is what we’re absolutely going to do,” said Weldon. “I urge people to check our website for information. We update it daily. They can also call our call center. They should try many times. They will get through. We are helping about 1,000 callers a day.”
Weldon said he is hopeful that Congress “will pass further extensions and increase its programs.” If federal stimulus is passed, he said the DLT “will communicate with those people who have fallen off of benefits to let them know what they have to do at that time.”
Weldon is accustomed to operating amidst a crisis. He began at DLT in 2011 as chief of program development “at the tail end of the recession.”
“We had a difficult time responding to our customer’s needs,” said Weldon. “We have done a lot in the last 10 years to make improvements.”
The pandemic, however, he said, “sent DLT into a tailspin.”
It also forced the department to make improvements. Prior to the pandemic DLT “made process changes” to improve with customer service. “Then the pandemic hit,” he said, “and what that really exposed was how much we had to invest in new technology and new infrastructure.”
That led to upgrading from an old analog phone system that could handle 70 to 100 calls at a time, to a cloud-based system with unlimited capacity. “We have been steadily at 80,000 people per week without a problem for some time,” said Weldon. “That has put us in a much better position.”
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Shuman@PBN.com.
