Jobless Nevadans getting aid — finally

After 13 days of frayed nerves and fading cell phone batteries, Cathy DuBois finally found out when she'll get money for her mortgage, car insurance and groceries.

DuBois, 61, was among an estimated 56,000 Nevadans left high and dry in June when Congress failed to extend unemployment benefits for those whose state jobless benefits had expired.

Congress finally approved the extension on July 22, but the claims backlog created by the lapse overwhelmed the ability of the Nevada Department of Training and Rehabilitation to deliver the money to people such as DuBois who had gone seven weeks with no income.

DuBois of Pahrump said she called every 10 minutes for 13 days seeking to reinstate her claim and got nothing but a busy signal until Wednesday, the same day department officials announced changes to accommodate more online claims filing and plans for a new phone number to alleviate its jammed switchboard.

"The problem is the mortgage is due and the utilities are due, and I was getting down to where it was going to be really shaky," said DuBois, a senior corporate accountant who lost her job with a pharmaceutical company 16 months ago. "I've gone through every single resource I possibly have. Selling off furniture is what I'd have to do next."

Department officials say they've paid claims to 51,000 of the 56,000 people affected by the benefits lapse and expect smoother processing for the estimated 120,000 Nevadans receiving benefits now that the backlog is whittled away.

But the federal extension lasts only until November and, if Congress opts against acting before then, there could be another lapse in benefits that results in a similar backlog.

"Everything was chugging along well until the lapse happened," department spokeswoman Mae Worthey said.

The lapse was a standoff between Democrats and Republicans in Congress who couldn't agree on a plan to extend benefits without increasing the size of the national debt.

By the time they agreed to a measure July 22, back payments owed had been piling up for several weeks.

And anxious claimants flooded department phone lines and offices seeking the money they were owed, in addition to the ongoing claims by people who weren't affected and new claims from the recently laid off.

"The federal government through not passing the extended benefits has created a major problem for the states," department director Larry Mosley said during a news conference to announce how many backlogged claims had been paid and new measures to process more people.

The new measures include upgrades to the Web site www.expressclaim.org that allow people to file for reinstatement and their weekly extended claims online and plans for a phone number for people to call for status updates.

These measures are in addition to a 300 percent increase in call center staff since the recession began and workers coming in on Saturdays to process benefits information.

Before the recession began there were about 30 people answering phones and the department was processing about $4.5 million in payments per week, said Cynthia Jones, deputy director and employment security division administrator.

Now there are about 100 people answering phones at any given time and the department is taking about 23,000 calls processing about $44 million in payments per week, Jones said.

Mosley said he plans to ask Gov. Jim Gibbons to exempt the department from a statewide furlough program that cuts back the number of hours state employees can work.

Gibbons chief of staff Robin Reedy did not respond to an e-mail asking whether Gibbons would support such a move.

But legislators on both sides of the aisle said the idea makes sense.

"I think it would be better to do an exemption," said Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. "We built in an exemption in order to just get the emergencies taken care of, and this is an emergency."

"If there is overtime or additional hours needed to deal with critical issues, then you have to do it," said Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

The department also is in the process of installing a new computer system to process information more quickly, but that will take an estimated 3.5 years to complete.

In the meantime the department is relying on a system with core components that are 30 years old.

The age of the system makes number-crunching a slog; workers don't want to feed so much information into it that it crashes and causes even more delays.

"We are doing our best to hold it together with bubble gum, Band-Aids and duct tape," Jones said. "It is a prayer every day to make sure that keeps going."

Reps. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus, D-Nev., said they would work to ensure benefits don't lapse again in November.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., would support future extensions if they're paid for, his spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did not have a response by deadline. A spokesman for Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.