SALYERSVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Martha Holland owes $2,100 in back-rent and says if she doesn't get her PUA benefits soon, she'll be homeless with her four-month-old son.
"It has been hard," the out-of-work contractor told us today.
For months, Holland considered herself lucky. She says she received all her Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits like clockwork from April to December 2020.
But when she filed for an extension this year, Holland says for some reason she was being asked about a luxury car and home she doesn't own on her online unemployment questionnaire.
"The very first question was wanting to know the license plate of my BMW," said Holland. "The next question was what airplane I own. They had three different airplanes. I don't know anything about an airplane, so I said none of the above."
Holland says she has tried repeatedly to call the unemployment office about the ID mix-up but hasn't been able to reach anyone.
She understands state employees reading emails and fielding calls have a difficult job. Holland blames an out-of-date system, not them.
"I can only imagine getting thousands of calls everybody being frustrated and agitated at this, but at the same time, everyone is losing everything," said Holland. "If I had an airplane and a BMW I wouldn't be so worried about unemployment"
