Department of Labor ups response goal for unemployment claims referred by lawmakers

This story was updated to include information about a Feb. 26 email exchange between Smith’s staff and the front office at 10:42 p.m.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) on Tuesday celebrated the removal of a limit on lawmaker unemployment referrals the Department of Labor and Workforce Development says never existed.

“As a result of my letter to the Governor last week protesting a new policy to ration the number of cases to twelve per week that any congressional office can submit for resolution, we’ve now been assured that the New Jersey Department of Labor will accept all of our cases and attempt to do a better job,” Smith said. “It’s a start, it’s a change. We hope to see real improvement.”

Smith, in a March 10 letter first reported by Shlomo Schorr, lambasted a policy change he said would limit New Jersey’s legislators and members of Congress to 25 unemployment claim referrals every two weeks, charging it would leave hundreds of his constituents in the lurch for months.

But the department says that limit wasn’t a limit but the number of claims from each legislative office it sought to address in each two-week period.

“There was never a limit set for legislative referrals for the new Case Management System, nor a policy to set or change a limit, but we must prioritize all claimants, not just those in any one district, or those who contact their lawmaker for assistance,” Department of Labor Spokesperson Angela Delli Santi said.

It was “our target to address, not a limit, nor a cap on submissions,” she said.

The governor’s office told Smith’s staff otherwise in a Feb. 26 email exchange. The congressional staffer asked whether they would “be able to re-submit 25 cases every other week for processing” after filing an initial 50 for the rollout of the department’s new case management system.

“Yes that’s to the best of my understanding,” they were told.

In any case, that number is up to 50 every two weeks.

The fracas last week saw Gov. Phil Murphy attack the congressman over his “no” vote on the recently-passed $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and comes as state unemployment officials are working to stand up a new claims system they hope will expedite processing and allow lawmakers to communicate directly with their constituents about their claims.

A limited number of legislative and congressional staffers will be able to access the system, through which they can see and track claims they’ve submitted on their constituents’ behalf. That’s also created some friction.

A Senate panel on Monday advanced a bill that would require the Department of Labor, with a $1.8 million appropriation from the general fund, to assign an unemployment claims handler to each legislative district and partisan office while the state’s public health emergency continues.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden), one of the bill’s sponsors, on Monday told the New Jersey Globe it was spurred, at least in part, by the added workload on his staffers.

“This is just because my staff is being overwhelmed, and there was a suggestion that our staff become hybrid staff of the Department of Labor,” he said. “And that’s not really our job.”

The 50-claim goal isn’t enough to satisfy Smith

“The Murphy Administration’s goal of providing me, and others, just 50 responses every other week still is not enough,” he said. “My staff and I will continue to work with the State with the sincere hope and expectation that the 700 people still waiting for help will soon receive the benefits they are entitled to.”

New Jersey’s unemployment rate continues to be high, having edged up two-tenths of a percent in January, to 7.9%, a little more than twice than the 3.8% unemployment the previous year. Though, new claims dipped in February and into early March, falling to their lowest since before the pandemic began.

Murphy, Labor Commissioner Rob Asaro-Angelo and other administration officials have said the bulk of claims have been filled, including more than 116,000 in Smith’s district, and the most of what remains are outliers, requiring additional scrutiny for one reason or another.

“The goals we set represent a realistic expectation of the number of claimants who will be assisted from each district during a set period of time, based on volume, staffing and complexity of claim,” Delli Santi said.