Unemployed Tennesseans are being paid the highest jobless benefits in history amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but getting those weekly paychecks is proving more difficult than usual.
With a record number of Tennesseans added to the jobless rolls in the past three weeks, the state’s unemployment office is having to revamp how those getting unemployment benefits certify each week that they are still out of work and in the labor market.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday it is moving to a staggered schedule for unemployment claimants to complete their weekly certifications. This change will spread out over three days the number of people certifying that they are still jobless and willing to work. Tennessee Labor Commissioner Jeff McCord said the change should create a more responsive experience for claimants using Jobs4TN.gov after earlier computer snafus.
More than 324,000 Tennesseans have applied for unemployment benefits over the last four weeks, creating an unprecedented demand on the unemployment computer system. While claimants can certify any day of the week, most choose Sunday, putting a workload 21 times the normal rate of usage onto the system.
Jobless benefits have been boosted by a $600 federal weekly supplement for up to four months, raising unemployment benefits in Tennessee from the former state cap of $275 a week up to a new combined state and federal maximum of $875 a week.