Unemployment filers still seeing error messages

Three days after the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation temporarily shut down its website for enhancements, users are seeing error messages saying pages are still “under construction” or there was “an error” while processing their requests.

DETR spokeswoman Rosa Mendez reiterated Tuesday that the website was still up and running, albeit very slowly.

The system is “extremely taxed” by a high volume of users trying to file initial and weekly claims, Mendez said, in addition to the added stress on the system after Saturday’s update, which was meant to prepare the site for expanded unemployment benefits from the CARES Act.

“This is a brand-new thing the system was never designed to take on,” Mendez said. “The system is slowing way down so it doesn’t crash.”

Still, users across the Las Vegas Valley have reported error messages when trying to use the website.

Lori Clodt said she has been unable to access her account since the website was updated.

“I wasn’t having trouble with the site before Saturday,” Clodt said. “When I was trying to log in, I’d get an error message.”

Clodt filed for unemployment April 2, the day the company she works for, Cenegenics, an age management clinic in Las Vegas, temporarily shuttered its business because of the economic impact of the coronavirus.

The marketing coordinator tried signing into her account multiple times a day since Saturday but continues to receive an error message shortly after inputting her password. Like many other claimants, she has also experienced trouble reaching the department by phone.

“I thought, ‘OK, let me see if I can go to other places (on the website),’ and that’s when I got the ‘under construction’ message,” she said, adding that she didn’t try every link on DETR’s homepage but the few she tried were unsuccessful.

Other claimants who have reached out to the Review-Journal also said they’ve received an error message shortly after entering their password.

Mendez suggested claimants unable to access the website try again during off-peak hours.

The website has faced record-level volumes amid the statewide business shutdowns. As of April 4, there have been 271,533 initial claims filed in 2020, more than the state saw in the prior two years combined.

Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter. Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.