Credit: Kalim A. Bhatti
Pennsylvania’s handling of unemployment claims left at least one Republican senator calling for the ouster of the Department of Labor and Industry’s top official.
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Sen. John DiSanto, R-Perry, said he lost faith in L&I Secretary Jerry Oleksiak at a joint hearing of the Senate Labor and Industry and Communications and Technology committees regarding the department’s botched response to soaring unemployment claims amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“His management of the department leading up to and during this response to the COVID-19 pandemic can only be described as a failure,” DiSanto said in a letter addressed to Gov. Tom Wolf. “I heard excuses and blame, but not the leadership and action that is needed at the helm of the Department of Labor & Industry.”
More than 1.7 million residents applied for unemployment compensation as a result of Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide economic shut down implemented March 23, representing more than a quarter of Pennsylvania’s workforce.
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But, lawmakers say, overwhelmed phone lines and a glitchy website means many forced out of work still haven’t received their benefits. The failures appear more egregious after Oleksiak said cabinet briefings in January and February from Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine warned that the pandemic could cause severe economic disruption.
“These are people’s livelihoods, and if we are going to tell them they cannot work, we need to be doing everything in our power to ensure that they can still receive the unemployment compensation that they so desperately need and deserve,” said Senate Communications and Technology Committee Chair Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R- York.
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“Were we anticipating 1 million claims in three weeks? Absolutely not,” Oleksiak said. “I don’t think any state could have seen that coming. I think we were prepared as we could possibly be given terms of staffing and federal dollars.”
“It wasn’t like the governor closed the commonwealth and we said what do we do now?,” he continued. “Our primary concern was getting our system and employees up and ready to respond when people began seeking unemployment compensation benefits.”
Oleksiak said that staff has logged more than 47,000 hours of overtime – including on Easter Sunday – to process $5.3 billion in payments. He said 70 percent of those who applied between March 15 and April 4 have received benefits. The department also recalled retired workers, extended phone hours and case handling capacity, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays when volume is at its highest.
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DiSanto says it’s another example of Oleksiak’s ineffective and “inadequate” leadership, reminding the committees that he opposed his nomination in 2017. Democrats argue the department did the best it could with the lower staffing complement required during a period of record-low unemployment that preceded the pandemic.
“I’m left wondering what in the hell is wrong here,” DiSanto said. “I couldn’t find one reference [in the governor’s budget] to needing more resources to make sure the unemployment compensation system works. The traditional UC system should not have been fraught with chaos given all the rosy updates.”
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Wolf, for his part, finds no fault with Oleksiak’s leadership.
“Secretary Oleksiak has overseen an effort to provide billions of dollars to those who need unemployment compensation in this unprecedented time,” Lyndsay Kensinger, Wolf’s spokesperson, said in an email Thursday. “The governor is proud he serves the commonwealth, and that he will continue to do so.”
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Kensinger criticized DiSanto for “playing politics” rather than creating a plan for his constituents or “being a constructive voice on ensuring our economy heals.”
“Voting to prematurely open tens of thousands of businesses during the height of the coronavirus is disappointing, as well,” she said, referencing GOP-sponsored bills to reopen sectors of the economy ahead of Wolf’s schedule. “There is no guarantee it would do anything other than cause confusion, and put employees in harm’s way.”
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