OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Viewers continue to flood KFOR’s newsroom with calls and emails about the state’s unemployment system as many continue to go weeks without receiving payment or getting answers.
“I don’t think they were prepared for this, and I get that,” Traci Melton told News 4. “But’s like you guys have go to do something.”
Melton is one of the many Oklahomans that’s had problems with the state’s unemployment system.
She says she was approved for benefits on March 19th, but she didn’t receive a payment from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission for six weeks.
She reapplied for benefits the next week, but was denied.
“Now every time I file it says there’s an issue with my claim,” Melton said. “No payment is going to be made, to call the 405 number.”
Melton says she calls that number every day to get answers, but all she gets are more headaches.
“Friday I was on the phone with a representative wasn’t even paying attention to me,” Melton said. “She was on her phone the whole time, the whole time I was talking to her. I had to call in a second time to make sure someone actually did their job.”
In April, Governor Stitt promised Oklahomans he would have the unemployment problem fixed within a week.
Two weeks later the Governor had this to say.
“OESC is a perfect example of where state government is not doing a good job. The technology is 1986,” Governor Stitt said. “When we needed that agency we had wait times of up to eight hours. You’ve probably all heard the stories.”