Worries mount as unemployment site goes down for payment processing

Wednesday has been a tough day for many of you who tell us because the unemployment website went down, you can’t continue your application, check your status or claim your benefits.

The DEO says the website went down so they can process claims. But many of you say you’re still worried.

We’ve received hundreds of Facebook comments, messages and emails from you — pending, waiting, not processing.

Rafael Jungers is one of many of you who woke up Wednesday morning to a message on the unemployment website saying it was down to process claims and would be back up by noon.

“It’s slowly working. It’s just not fast enough. Once you get past that, there’s another hurdle to jump through,” he said.

But when noon came, a new message popped up: “Connect is down processing payments. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

Jungers says it’s been difficult to log on ever since. He says for the last month he’s been dealing with verifying his identity and waiting for the DEO to confirm his previous employment.

“They determined me eligible, then they retracted their statement, and now they’re doing fact-finding,” he said.

While he’s pending, he has been able to claim benefits when the website works. But he’s worried if they keep shutting down the website he won’t meet the deadline to claim his next two weeks.

“It’s very frustrating. It’s scary,” he said,

He says he’s glad to see they’re processing payments and hopes his is one of them, but if it doesn’t come soon, things will get even harder.

“About three weeks from now,” he says, “that’s when everything is going to get really bad. If there’s no sort of relief.”

We have reached out to the DEO and governor’s office with more of your questions, and we are waiting for their response.

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