Claims for Unemployment Compensation, Week Ending July 11

July 16, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2020

Claims for Unemployment Compensation, Week Ending July 11

AUGUSTA - For the week ending July 11, the Maine Department of Labor recorded about 4,600 initial claims filed for state unemployment insurance, and 3,400 initial claims filed for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). These claims represent about 4,400 individuals filing an initial claim.

While there is always a slight uptick in unemployment claims filed in early July due to temporary mill and factory shutdowns, because of widespread fraud attacks on unemployment insurance programs across the country, the Department is actively analyzing this increase.

About 60,000 weekly certifications, or continued claims, were filed last week for state unemployment. In addition, about 23,900 weekly certifications were filed under PUA. Weekly certifications must be filed by claimants every week in order to continue to receive unemployment benefits.

Between March 15 and July 11, the Maine Department of Labor has paid out about $1.1 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits. By comparison, the Department paid out less than $74 million in unemployment benefits in all of 2019.

The Department has handled approximately 172,400 initial claims for the state unemployment program and 80,200 initial claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. There have been about 1.68 million weekly certifications filed.

Claims data is preliminary and subject to revision. Tomorrow morning, July 17, the Department of Labor will release monthly workforce data on the employment situation in June. That data on the change in payroll jobs and the unemployment rate provides the best indication of workforce conditions.

Fraud Update

The Maine Department of Labor continues its careful review of all claims as it investigates unemployment imposter fraud.

During the week ending July 11, the Department cancelled about 300 initial claims and 1,800 weekly certifications that were determined to be fraudulent.

In total, between the week ending May 30 through week ending July 11, the Department has cancelled over 25,000 initial claims and 48,000 weekly certifications that were determined to be fraudulent.

To date, the Department has received about 19,400 unique reports of unemployment imposter fraud. This number does not include the duplicate reports that had been included in previous weeks. The Department has also reinstated almost 13,800 claims to legitimate claimants that had been flagged for potential fraud.

Unemployment imposter fraud is when a person's Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, is stolen and used illegally to apply for unemployment benefits. Maine is one of many U.S. states working in close collaboration with state and federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies to investigate and prevent it.

The Department encourages anyone who believes that someone else has used their or their employees personal information to file a fraudulent unemployment application to notify the Department immediately using this form: https://www.maine.gov/unemployment/idtheft/ .

The investigation is ongoing, and new incidences of potential fraud are identified every day.

Those whose claims were cancelled for suspected fraud or whose claim has been flagged for potential fraud (showing a paid date of 9/9/9999), must verify their identity in order to reinstate the claim. To do so, claimants should go online to the ReEmployME homepage at https://reemployme.maine.gov and follow the below directions:

Select "Upload Documents for Identity Verification" located just above the login link and provide the following: TWO forms of identification (scans or photos are okay), one of which must be a government issued photo ID.

Government issued photo IDs are:

• Drivers license
• Passport
• Military ID
• Federal or State employee ID

Non-photo documentation could include:

• A recent utility bill that shows your name and residential address
• Social Security Card
• Birth certificate

To expedite verifications, law enforcement officers from the Maine Department of Corrections are working with the department on a temporary basis to review identity documentation. Documentation will be worked through in the order it is submitted to the Department. As claims are reviewed and determined to be valid, payments are released.

Data on initial and continued claims, benefits paid, contributions received, the balance of the unemployment insurance trust fund, as well as other information, is available at https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/ui.html .

Note: Claims data is production numbers, and do not equal the amount of individual people filing a claim.

If you have not yet applied, you can do so at https://www.maine.gov/unemployment . Click on the ReEmployME icon in the bottom left of the page. You will be prompted to create a claimant account, after which you can submit an unemployment claim and file your weekly certifications. Dont forget to verify your email address and sign up for direct deposit. There is no separate application for PUA. The application process will make the determination of whether you are eligible for state or PUA benefits based on your answers to questions. PUA benefits are available to anyone who is self-employed and does not receive W2 wages, regardless of the profitability of your business.

The Department of Labor recommends filing your claims online with a computer, as opposed to a smartphone, and during evening hours when internet traffic is less congested. The Department has implemented an alphabetical call in schedule to help reduce phone line congestion as the Department ramps up its capacity to receive and process claims. Last names beginning with A-H should call on Monday, I-Q on Tuesday; and R-Z on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are left unassigned for those who miss their alphabetical day or need to call at that time.

Phone lines are open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and may be reached at 1-800-593-7660. Roughly 2,000 calls are answered per day. Those who are unable to connect with a claims representative should submit a message at https://www.maine.gov/labor/contact .

For more information and resources, visit the Departments unemployment page: https://www.maine.gov/unemployment .

Follow the Maine Department of Labor on Facebook @MElabor and Twitter @maine_labor.