State says glitch may be telling Oregonians to restart unemployment claims online

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Employment Department says a glitch that was fixed last week could still be giving those filing claims during the coronavirus outbreak some trouble.

KATU viewers receiving unemployment reached out after receiving a message telling them to start over.

Anyone receiving that message should wait before re-filing the claim, an OED spokesperson said.

Some people tell KATU the message came when they were claiming a week of benefits. The message told them that there was a break in their reporting, either they worked 40 or more hours, earned more than their weekly benefit amount or stopped claiming benefits. Several people tell KATU News none of those situations were their case, but the next line of the message told them to re-start their claim.

Gail Krumenauer, Communications Manager with OED, says even though the message says to re-start a claim, it is best for people to wait a day before doing so, the message could have been a glitch.

"In general we have seen the 'restart your claim' glitch come up and we will have have more information about that as we get it on the Oregon.gov/employ site," explained Krumenauer. "We do know that we saw the first batch of that happen this week. We were able to make an automatic fix for that behind the scenes, identify those cases and fix them and so those people that experienced that over the past week can continue to file their claim online. As we see that happening again, we should be able to do the same again. That said, every single individual’s unemployment situation is just that it’s individual."

So before going to re-apply like the message says, it is best to wait a day or two to see if the error clears up. Krumenauer suggests checking the website for answers. The site is frequently updated with answers to frequently asked questions.

"I am tremendously empathetic, I don’t want anyone to have anything other than a good experience especially during a difficult time so I apologize for that happening," said Krumenauer.

If you do not see an answer to a problem you are having, Krumenauer says you can email OED_covid19_info@oregon.gov and someone will get back to you in a day or two to help.