DLT flooded with unemployment calls

By Kelley McGee
Anchorwoman, Education Reporter
Published: December 2, 2008

Getting laid off wasn’t the only unpleasant surprise Stacie McNaughton received last week.

Applying for unemployment benefits came in at a close second.

“I called for five days until I got through on the fifth day,“ McNaughton said.

It’s something that McNaughton said she can handle, but worries many others can’t.

“If you are one of those people that live paycheck to paycheck, you really couldn’t survive under these circumstances,“ she said.

After receiving several similar complaints from viewers, NBC 10 asked the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training to explain why the phone lines are so jammed up.

“We realize that it is very difficult for them and understand the problems that they have trying to reach the call center and file a claim,“ Raymond Filippone of the Department of Labor and Training said.

Filippone said the claim load has doubled while their staff hasn’t.

“We have regular unemployment benefits that we’re paying out. We have individuals that have been on the state-extended benefit program and federal extension program,“ he said.

Filippone said the DLT received 24,000 calls last month with only 30 people manning the phones.

“I think the good news is that we have been approved to hire for new positions. I have 24 positions that we are currently recruiting for. “

The Department of Labor and Training encourages everyone who works in Rhode Island and is filing a new claim to do it online.

You can file a claim on the Department of Labor and Training Web site.