CareerCenters Can Now Help with Common Unemployment Insurance Questions Bookmark and Share

January 22, 2020

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Media Contact: Jessica Picard, Maine Dept. of Labor, Jessica.l.picard@maine.gov

CareerCenters Can Now Help with Common Unemployment Insurance Questions

MAINE - Many Mainers are unemployed in the winter due to the seasonal nature of their jobs. The Department encourages people to apply for unemployment benefits for which they may be eligible and recognizes that this increase in people applying may cause long wait times to speak to an unemployment representative. Unemployment staff are doing their best to respond to over 1,000 phone calls a week and over 350 online inquiries a day. In order to help claimants, get their questions answered as quickly as possible, the Department is now providing an additional avenue for resolving issues such as being locked out of their account or needing to have their password reset. Certain CareerCenters will now have staff available to address these basic unemployment questions from 12:30- 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Staff can help with accessing unemployment accounts and resetting passwords from 12:30 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the following locations:

  • Augusta CareerCenter - 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
  • Bangor CareerCenter 45 Oak Street, Suite 3, Bangor
  • Northern Kennebec Valley CareerCenter 23 Stanley Rd., Hinckley
  • Lewiston CareerCenter 5 Mollison Way, Lewiston
  • Presque Isle CareerCenter 66 Spruce St., Suite 1, Presque Isle
  • Greater Portland CareerCenter 151Jetport Blvd., Portland
  • Rockland CareerCenter 91 Camden St., Suite 201, Rockland

For more complicated issues, claimants need to call the unemployment claims center at 1-800-593-7660 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday, or leave an online message on our Customer Messaging Portal which is available 24/7: https://www.maine.gov/labor/contact/index.html

Unemployment Tips

  • Due to the high volume of inquiries this time of year, the Department recommends that people call early in the morning, and if put on hold, do not hang up. Hanging up and calling back moves the caller to the end of the queue.

  • On average there is a 30-minute wait to speak to a claims representative on the phone. Claimants leaving an online message can expect a response to their inquiry within 72 hours.

  • If a claimant has filed a claim online, they can print a copy of the screen that says they have submitted their claim as verification. There will be no other confirmation.

  • More tips can be found at the link: https://www.maine.gov/labor/news_events/article.shtml?id=2003678

Other important UI information and FAQs:

How to avoid being locked out: One of the most common issues reported is being locked out of a benefit account due to failed password attempts. Currently you have two attempts available to enter your password correctly. If you fail to provide the correct password a third consecutive time, your account will be locked and can only be unlocked by an unemployment representative. We recommend that if you have entered your password incorrectly twice that you use the forgot password or forgot username links provided. As long as you have activated the email address associated with the account when the account was created, you can click on the "Forgot Password" link underneath the login boxes to have a new temporary password generated and sent to the email address on file. Refer to the section below for instructions on how to activate your email if you have not done so already. You will be able to use this temporary password to log in and will be prompted to set up a new password, personal to you, at that time. For more information, please visit the ReEmployME Login Information page at https://www.maine.gov/unemployment/remelogin/

How to activate your email address in order to reset your own password: To reset your own password, you will need to activate the email address associated with your ReEmployME account. Activating your email will also allow you to receive notifications via email when new information is added to your account, such as forms and decisions.

If you have not yet activated your email address, or are not sure if you have, please do the following:

  1. Log in to your ReEmployME account.

  2. Navigate to Benefits Maintenance > Update Claimant Profile > Verify E-mail.

  3. On the next screen either enter your Verification Code received at the email address on file to activate your email or click on the word 'here' to have a new code generated and sent to the email address on file. (If you need another verification code, click here. An email will be sent to you with a new verification code.)

  4. If a new verification code is sent to you, go back to step 2 on the same screen and enter the code to complete the activation process.

You are now ready to reset your own password should you forget it. Remember to only try entering your password twice, or you will be locked out and require staff assistance to unlock your account!

Remember to file your weekly certifications every week

After you file your initial claim for benefits, in order to receive benefits, if eligible, you need to file weekly certifications. Do not wait to start filing even if there is a hold on your account pending a fact-finding or other issue. The Departments claim week runs from Sunday through Saturday. You can file for a week as of the Sunday following the prior week. You will need your work searches and the amount of wages earned (even if not yet paid) for the week claimed to file for the week.

  1. Log in to your ReEmployME account.

  2. Navigate to Weekly Certification > File Weekly Certification.

Please note: In order to file and complete your claim, after submitting and confirming your work search information, make sure to click the "Next" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Doing so will load the weekly claim questions, which have to be completed in order to file your weekly certification.

Maine Department of Labor and Maine CareerCenters are equal opportunity providers. Auxiliary aids and services are available to individuals with disabilities upon request.