Unemployment System Upgrade Delayed Until February 4 and 5 Bookmark and Share

January 29, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 29, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Rabinowitz, 207-621-5009

System upgrade will offer new features

AUGUSTA?The Maine Department of Labor has delayed a major upgrade to the state?s unemployment system, originally scheduled to occur the last week of January, until Wednesday and Thursday, February 4 and 5, 2015. The department has been preparing claimants for the changes to the system since December of last year.

The unemployment system, both the telephone claims system and the website claims systems, will be unavailable during the system upgrade, from approximately 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4, through about 6 a.m., Thursday, February 5, 2015.

?The system improvements will include more Internet-based self-service features,? stated Commissioner of Labor Jeanne Paquette. ?We will also ensure that everyone filing unemployment claims are registered with our Bureau of Employment Services and CareerCenter network through the Maine Job Bank. That registration is a requirement of federal and state law, but it has important benefits by better connecting people who have lost their jobs with all our re-employment and training services and network of partnering organizations.?

The new application will be accessed on the Department of Labor?s Bureau of Unemployment Compensation website at http://www.maine.gov/labor or http://www.file4UI.com , which are the current web addresses claimants use to file benefits.

The new system will allow individuals to create a website unemployment account; manage their profile, including editing contact information, username, password, PIN number and security reset questions/answers; and access a forgotten PIN, username, password or forgotten security questions/answers.

Current unemployment claimants will be able to view and print their benefit history transcripts, view their claim status, manage the direct deposit of their benefit payment and file weekly and initial unemployment claims.

New users will have the ability to access the Maine Job Bank, the CareerCenter?s website and file an initial unemployment claim. They will also have the ability to obtain benefit history transcript, often needed when applying for services form other agencies, for example, LiHeap.

Other new features include the ability to send group or individual messages through the unemployment system to claimants, for example, notes about training opportunities or job fairs in their area. People who file claims on the website will use their personal email address as their account login, another new feature.

The Maine Department of Labor administers the state?s unemployment system. Unemployment is an insurance program providing temporary, partial wage replacement to workers. In order to qualify for benefits, workers must have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, be actively seeking work and be able to accept new work. Workers who do not participate in a suitable, verifiable work search or who do not document their work search risk losing unemployment benefits and could be required to pay back benefits they have received.

For more information about unemployment benefits, please visit http://www.file4ui.com .

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