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July 15, 2009
The state has left thousands of unemployed Texans in the lurch.
The Texas Workforce Commission presided over a meltdown of monumental proportions this week, announcing that as many as 82,000 people will face delays as they seek to extend their benefits. Those who called the commission for help – or called for any reason at all – got nowhere Monday when more than 150,000 people tried and failed to reach the commission as phone lines jammed.
And, as an added bonus, the state's unemployment insurance system is nearly broke and will be forced to seek a cash infusion from the federal government.
Commission officials don't seem particularly panicked about the havoc, blaming it on complicated federal rules, computer glitches and the start of a new quarter. Don't worry, they told unemployed Texans, payments will be retroactive to the date people are cut off.
A vague promise that the check eventually will be in the mail is little help for people with bills to pay today. As many have noted, they can't feed their kids or pay their rent retroactively.
A delay of "at least" a couple of months, as a commission spokeswoman put it, will cause undue hardship for thousands of Texans. For those who are unemployed and struggling, the promised 13-week extension in benefits was a lifeline.
There's no doubt that the workforce commission faces a steep challenge: The number of people out of work has soared. And after paying benefits in record amounts, the state bled its fund nearly dry and now will ask the federal government for a loan.
But this agency exists to provide vulnerable Texans with a safety net. It is failing in that mission.
Commission officials have lamented the complexity of federal requirements and the daunting volume of calls coming into their offices. Their job, though, is to unravel the rules and accommodate the growing number of claims.
Officials described some problems as expected but unavoidable and others as unpleasant surprises. In any case, a months-long delay of unemployment benefits is, quite simply, unacceptable.
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