Adjudication Unit for Unemployment Insurance Claims Launched

by Thunda October 22, 2020

October 22, 2020

ADJUDICATION UNIT FOR UNEMPLOYMENT

INSURANCE CLAIMS LAUNCHED

100 Trained Adjudicators Will Process Claims

The Hawaii State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) today announced that it added significant capacity to reduce the backlog of claims requiring adjudication that involve a higher level of expertise and knowledge to process. The DLIR contracted services with Maximus Inc., which is also operating a virtual call center for the department.

“Even during this COVID-19 Pandemic most applicants received benefits or a monetary determination explaining why they were not eligible within three weeks of filing,” said DLIR Director Anne Eustaquio. “The backlog in eligibility decisions are largely related to whether the claimant quit or was fired or whether the claimant is immediately available for work.”

Adjudication is the investigation and resolution of eligibility issues raised and is a manual process that requires interested parties be provided due process to respond to the eligibility issue. Eligibility issues arise from several places including the initial claim, weekly claim, and employer contact, among others.

The adjudicators will call both claimants and employers from an 808 number. Claimants and employers not answering calls have been problematic as some phone network services identify the calls as spam or telemarketers.

For more information about unemployment insurance and other labor issues please visit the recently revised FAQs at https://labor.hawaii.gov/covid-19-labor-faqs/.

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