Editorial: Better service for the unemployed

When much of Hawaii’s economy abruptly shut down last spring due to COVID-19 concerns, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) was woefully ill-equipped to contend with an avalanche of unemployment claims.

In the months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the state had been on a low-unemployment streak. In March, the jobless rate was just 2.4%, according to federal labor figures. But then in April and May, jaw-dropping rates hovered at 23%, with the number of people unemployed here topping 150,000.

Approaching the one-year mark of coronavirus-related uncertainty in the labor force, the DLIR is still scrambling, struggling to keep pace with service demands while contending with an obsolete computer system and other challenges. But finally, there’s an overdue glimmer of hope: the agency is launching a $10.3 million plan to replace its 1980s mainframe with a nimble web-based system.

On a recent Star-Advertiser “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast, DLIR Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio said: “We’re dealing with a mainframe that is extremely antiquated, that has been touched many times” since unemployment rates spiked. With nearly every new benefit program issued by the federal government, the agency has had to adjust the fragile system.

Perreira-Eustaquio opts for a “deliberately cautious” approach in adding new programs, which has, unfortunately, contributed to frustrating delays in payments. But a faster pace presents greater risk for a mainframe crash, and the near-inconceivable possibility of a switch to a fully manual processing of claims.

Under the new system, vendor Solid State Operations Inc. will install a cloud-hosted “software-as-a-service” application for unemployment-related transactions, which will be much better suited for handling spikes in claims. Moreover, the next system is expected to bring welcome savings on IT costs, staff hours and training costs.

There are high hopes for the switch, as it follows the vendor’s successful revamping of Alabama’s system: launched in January 2020, by September it had put that state as No. 1 in the nation in benefits payment timeliness. Hawaii’s transition is slated to span some 18 months. In the meantime, DLIR must continue to strive for more customer-service improvements.

Since the agency was overwhelmed with claims last spring, access has been largely limited to online and automated phone contacts, due in part to concerns that in-person contact could result in an infection outbreak leaving the already short-staffed office without a critical supply of employees well-versed in the handling of claims.

Still, it’s unconscionable that DLIR has gone so long without some sort of Plexiglas workaround to help people who are desperate and having difficulty navigating the remote-based, complex claims process. Unemployed residents need some sense of control over their fate, including reasonable access to information that pinpoints benefits status and how to effectively address snags.

In recent months, even with a trend of declining unemployment, Hawaii has continued to rank among states with the highest rates. According to federal figures for December, Hawaii tied another tourism-dependent state, Nevada, for the most unemployment, with a rate of 9.3%. The U.S. jobless rate was 6.7%.

Very unfortunately, there is no movement toward reopening in-person customer service at this time. DLIR spokesman Bill Kunstman on Friday said that plans are in the works for a partnership that will further expand access to staff services.

Replacing the aging mainframe system is one bright spot, at least; the quicker, the better. Another is the start of a new call center. After a contract expired in late January for a center paid for with federal COVID-19 relief funds, DLIR developed its own internal center, which now includes about 60 workers. Good — absent money, help and hope must be as robust as possible.