The first part of Nevada’s long-awaited plan to modernize its unemployment insurance system went live this week, nearly four years after an unprecedented surge in jobless claims during the pandemic overwhelmed the platform.
State officials hope the new system will offer greater security, be easier to use, and be more familiar to Nevadans who already use systems based on the platform. Windows.
For now, the changes implemented last Tuesday only affect state employers, who use the system to pay taxes that fund the state’s unemployment insurance program. Nevadans who file unemployment claims will see no changes for at least 18 months.
At the start of the pandemic, the state experienced 20 times more unemployment claims, quickly crippling the system and leading to long delays in payments, officials said.
An external review revealed that the state’s systems were outdated, overly complex, expensive, and unable to successfully integrate a new program for self-employed workers called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA.
The state has designated $72 million for the entire project, including $54 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds. assigned by the Legislature in 2021.
The remaining $18 million came from a fund that collects fines from employers who did not pay required taxes for the unemployment program, said Christopher Sewell, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR).
“The system will be much more stable, so if we have a large influx, we will be able to handle it,” Sewell noted.
Irregular activities can be detected more easily in virtual data storage systems, so if there is a fraudster trying to gain access to the unemployment system and user information, there are more advanced response measures than the current system, Sewell added.
Unemployment fraud was a major problem in Nevada during the pandemic, with the state paying out nearly $1.4 billion in improper or fraudulent benefits.
“As the scammers have gotten better, we’ve gotten better,” Sewell told The Nevada Independent. “And that’s why we’re going to make sure that the system is extremely secure.”
The current system could only process regular unemployment benefit claims, so the state had to rely on a third-party provider for people who filed PUA claims during the pandemic. The new system will be able to handle various types of unemployment benefits.
The new system also has a chatbot or program that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions about unemployment, and is more compatible for mobile phones.
Julie Griffiths, who lives in Reno and is a small business owner, said she was frustrated by the sudden change. Her business is transitioning to a different payroll service and she needed to show proof of taxes owed on wages, but she couldn’t access the state system.
When she called DETR — the agency had offered itself as a resource for those with questions during the outage — staff had no information.
During the outage, the agency offered employers ways to communicate with staff. All 706 employers who called and waited on the line during that period received assistance from staff, a DETR spokesperson said.
The second implementation of the project (which will affect those filing for unemployment) is scheduled to conclude in the summer of 2025. Sewell indicated that work is underway on that phase.
2024-02-22 14:51:10
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