PRINTER'S NO. 1566
No. 138 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY TARTAGLIONE, LAVALLE, EARLL, M. WHITE, STOUT,
O'PAKE, KUKOVICH, BELL, MUSTO, MELLOW, COSTA, ERICKSON,
BODACK, LEMMOND, FUMO, BOSCOLA, LOGAN, SCHWARTZ AND ORIE,
DECEMBER 3, 2001
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, DECEMBER 3, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Calling on the Joint State Government Commission to form a task
2 force to investigate unemployment compensation call centers.
3 WHEREAS, Recent statistics show that 275,000 Pennsylvanians
4 are currently unemployed; and
5 WHEREAS, Many of those in this Commonwealth who are
6 unemployed rely on the assistance of unemployment compensation;
7 and
8 WHEREAS, In 1999 an unemployment compensation service center
9 was opened in Allentown, and during 2000 five additional
10 unemployment compensation service centers were opened in Erie,
11 Altoona, Philadelphia, Scranton and Lancaster; and
12 WHEREAS, The disastrous events of September 11, 2001, have
13 created an influx of thousands of unemployed individuals in need
14 of the services provided by these unemployment compensation
15 service centers; and
16 WHEREAS, Persons trying to reach these new unemployment
17 compensation service centers may do so only by telephone and
1 have been met with continual barriers to filing their claims,
2 such as persistent busy signals, unanswered calls, misplaced
3 paperwork, insufficiently trained staff and technical
4 difficulties accessing the automated system; and
5 WHEREAS, Thousands of claimants are waiting from 6 to 11
6 weeks for decisions on their claims and there may be a backlog
7 of thousands more such claims; and
8 WHEREAS, Persons in need of assistance filing their
9 unemployment compensation claims are not able to meet face-to-
10 face with a person who can assist them with their filing needs;
11 and
12 WHEREAS, The needs of citizens of this Commonwealth who do
13 not speak English are not being met by the language assistance
14 program utilized by the Department of Labor and Industry,
15 forcing non-English-speaking persons to access the system with
16 the aid of someone who speaks English; and
17 WHEREAS, In spite of numerous claims by the Department of
18 Labor and Industry that the department has addressed the
19 problems surrounding the new unemployment compensation service
20 centers and assurances made by the department that the centers
21 are operating efficiently and effectively, unemployed
22 Pennsylvanians continually have problems with the call centers;
23 and
24 WHEREAS, The new unemployment compensation service centers
25 are clearly not meeting the needs of Pennsylvania's population
26 of unemployed persons; therefore be it
27 RESOLVED, That the Senate direct the Joint State Government
28 Commission to create a bipartisan task force consisting of two
29 members appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate,
30 two members appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, two
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1 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives
2 and two members appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of
3 Representatives; and be it further
4 RESOLVED, That the task force study the operation of the
5 unemployment compensation service centers and provide
6 recommendations to address the problems affecting the efficient
7 operation of the new centers and preventing claimants from
8 receiving benefits in a timely manner; and be it further
9 RESOLVED, That the Joint State Government Commission report
10 its findings to the Senate as soon as possible.
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