Division Of Labor And Trade Hiring 500 Staff To Reply Unemployment Compensation Calls – CBS Pittsburgh

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

HARRISBURG (KDKA) – The Department of Labor and Industry is hiring hundreds of new customer service agents to help with jobless calls.

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Acting secretary Jennifer Berrier announced Wednesday that at least 500 employees will be admitted to the unemployment benefit call center, and says seasoned existing employees will be moving to revolving claims full time.

You also want to hire 50-100 new customer service team leaders.

“Our goal is that every call is answered,” said Berrier. “I hear your concerns, they are important to me and I will continue to do everything I can to improve the way we serve you. The customer service initiative is just one of several projects we’re currently working on. “

They will also implement a customer service tracking portal that will create a ticket to keep track of work in progress on jobless claims and inform applicants of their place in line.

The department expects the first round of new employees to be hired by June and is preparing to hire up to 1,000 new employees in total.

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Many Pennsylvanians claim it was difficult to reach the state customer service representatives and sometimes they don’t hear a response after filing a claim.

“There is no customer service of any kind at the moment and we hope it can be improved,” said Larisa Mednis, organizer of the Pittsburgh Restaurant Workers Aid Group.

The Mon Valley Unemployed Committee and the Pittsburgh Restaurant Workers Aid Group gathered at Governor Tom Wolf’s downtown regional office on Wednesday to call for improvements to the unemployment benefits system. They say it helps, but it is not enough.

“We hope that they will hire about 2,000 additional employees,” said Mednis.

Mednis said she was fired from her restaurant job last March. Many of their employees in the restaurant industry have had problems filing a claim.

“The big problem is that nobody goes back to people. We hope that by hiring more employees, more answers will be obtained, ”said Mednis.

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