Governor Kelly says the Kansas Department of Labor will be adding staff and increasing server capacity to deal with the high volume of unemployment benefit claims resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The governor said over 500 customer service agents and “surge staff” will be added to the contact center, with a plan to have them working the phones between mid-March and mid-April. Surge staff members are trained to handle more complex unemployment insurance cases, and they provide a greater level of service than the customer service agents.
The department is also adding server capacity to be better able to help staff in working with people filing claims.
The governor said the contact center will also have expanded hours. Staff will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The weekday hours will be expanded to be in operation from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
From February 22nd through the 27th, there were about 358,000 calls per day into the contact center. The department has also received 1.3 million calls from auto dialers, and that has kept other claimants from getting into the system. Acting Secretary of Labor Amber Schutz said the auto dialers are not compatible with the system, and the clog the lines and prevent others from calling in.
The department is urging people to avoid the busiest times for the contact center. Those hours are 8 to 9 a.m and 1 to 2 p.m. each day.
