Capitol News

Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) asked residents from her district to speak directly with state legislators about receiving unemployment benefits.

The Michigan House Republicans website announced that some residents have been faced with very long wait times — as much as two months in some cases — for receiving resources to get through the unexpected unemployment that they have been faced with. 

The Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic is responsible for investigating the State Department's preparedness, as well as how decisions are made at this time. The body has heard testimonies from the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA), as well as the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity in the last two weeks.

“These agencies explained they were unaware of people waiting two months for needed resources, but I have had several reach out to me with problems -- as have many other legislators,” Lightner said, according to Michigan House Republicans. “It speaks to the sheer desperation of people trying to pay bills and put food on the table and the inaction of these agencies where people feel they have no other option, except going to their state legislator to try and get a claim fulfilled.”

Lightner, on the Michigan House Republicans website, said that one constituent in particular had been laid off on March 24 but had still not received benefits, as of May 27. Individuals calling to inquire about their applications were told that they would have to wait multiple weeks to have their files reviewed.

“UIA recently unveiled a new ‘portal’ for us legislators to help constituents through. My office filed our first inquiry on the new system on May 15,” Lightner told Michigan House Republicans. “The department is so far behind on processing claims that not ONE of our more than 100 submissions on this portal has even been assigned to a caseworker, much less actually reviewed by the department -- and that’s not to speak of the hundreds of inquiries submitted before that.”

Lightner believes that the number of people who have come to the hearings will help illustrate the dire straits Michigan's unemployed residents are currently in.