FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky has now paid about one-third of its roughly $1.5 million unemployment insurance claims, Amy Cubbage, general counsel for Gov. Beshear, said Thursday.
Cubbage gave the update along with new information about virtual appointment scheduling and federal Continued Assistance Act implementation.
The virtual appointment schedule is an 18-calendar day rolling schedule, Cubbage said. For instance, day 1 is Thursday. Day 18 is Jan. 31. Appointments for Feb. 1 should be on the website Friday for claimants to schedule.
Appointment hours are 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. daily. There are currently 16 staff working 125 appointments a day, Cubbage added.
The system allows claimants to schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments as well as add the appointment information to their calendars. If a claimant forgets their appointment information, they can go to the website, enter their email address and the system will resend the appointment information.
The system is also set to send reminders to claimants with appointments the day before their scheduled appointment.
“The programming for the federal Continuing Assistance Act is largely finished. Additional $300 per week payments should start going out next week,” Cubbage said. “Additional PUA/PEUC weeks should be ready to claim without opening a new claim, even if you had exhausted your full number of weeks previously.”
The total numbers from the beginning of the pandemic to the end of November are as follows:
- Total Claims: 1,539,784
- Total Claims Paid/Payable: 547,836
- Total Claims Denied: 27,552
- Total Pending with Fraud/Identity Issues: 90,144
- Total Pending with No Fraud/Identity Issues: 23,236
- Total Amount Paid: $5,450,709,280
