The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry said Tuesday they're still working through issues frustrating claimants of pandemic assistance programs like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC).
The two programs resumed last month after they were briefly suspended.
Since then, claimants have complained of delayed payments, technical issues and difficulty reaching a customer service representative.
In a press conference Tuesday, DLI Acting Secretary Jennifer Barrier said multiple issues have been resolved, while others are still in progress.
She said a small group of PUA claimants are still incorrectly identified as a permanent resident instead of a U.S. citizen in a USCIS code.
"We are doing everything we can to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and will continue to provide important updates as needed," Barrier said.
In terms of resolved issues for PUA claimants, Barrier said eligible PUA claimants who filed for the weeks ending January 2, 9 and 16, but did not receive payments should have their money now.
Also, PUA claimants who filed for the first time in 2021 will be receiving ID.me emails beginning this week.
For PEUC, Barrier said there are three outstanding issues, including PEUC claimants who have exhausted their weeks on December 26 and were placed on Pennsylvania's extended benefits program, claimants who have filed for the week of January 2 and 9 before the extensions were put in place and did not receive payment, and claimants who did not get the option to file for weeks between December 26 and the day they reopened their claims.
"We're hoping to make an announcement very soon that these issues have been fully resolved," Barrier said.
Still, reports of issues have meant mounting frustration from claimants. Many say any attempt to contact customer service is unsuccessful.
Barrier says the DLI plans to add an additional 120 customer service representatives in the coming month and adds they've struggled retaining people in those positions.
"These jobs are very difficult and our folks are working seven days a week, around the clock, overtime, constantly to try to get to our claimants," she said.
She maintains the best way to reach pandemic assistance customer service is by emailing the PUA resource account.
Barrier is also warning Pennsylvanians about potential signs of identity fraud in 1099-G tax documents.
She says if someone who did not apply for unemployment benefits gets a 1099-G form stating they received unemployment payments, it likely indicates identity fraud.
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Those people should immediately report the potential fraud to the Pennsylvania Office of Unemployment Compensation.
"It's really important for them to file the fraud form online so that we can begin an investigation, send that information to the IRS and not affect their tax filing," Barrier said."
Barrier said there is no indication their website was hacked or personal information was stolen.