Brenda filed an initial unemployment claim in June 2022 , and filed weekly. By July 2022 she still had received no response from UC and filed again. Still nothing. She called every day and only got busy signals and even tried emailing several times with no response.
Brenda is responsible for caring for her daughter, who is in school along with her 2 grandbabies. She fell behind on her rent, utilities, and had to ration food with the family. She had a trip planning to visit her mother, which she had to cancel.
After 7 and ½ months, she stumbled onto PUP help form. Within 24 hours a UC staffer gave her a call. Her payments were held up because they said she had no work history, which was not true. And because she filed a 2nd time in July 2022, UC open an investigation for risk alert, which was also cleared. 7 1/2 months unable to contact UC, while getting no funds. How can this be?
While we are glad that Brenda was able to receive her deserved benefits, she still hasn’t been made whole. UC did not pay her for the 1st initial claim period. Again she returned to PUP help form for the remaining sum of her benefits. Hopefully she will receive that money soon.
We are producing these “breakdowns” to remind people of the human toll of a broken PA unemployment compensation system. It must be fixed! Attached is a list of needed reforms. Let your legislators know you support fixing the UC system.
