On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry announced plans to add at least 500 new customer service representatives to improve upon the existing backlog of claims. The move comes one week after Rep. Natalie Mihalek of Allegheny and Washington Counties live-called the Unemployment Compensation Call Center and received a busy signal to lead off questioning during the department’s budget hearing before the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee. The Acting Secretary… Jennifer Berrier… then had no answer for why Pennsylvanians are repeatedly spending days waiting for someone to answer the phone and then another two to nine weeks before they receive a response to questions other than to say the issues are “complex.”
