PENDLETON — Every morning for months, Travis Hamman logged onto the Oregon Unemployment Department’s website, and every day his claim status report read the same — not processed.

Hamman, a carpenter and business owner in Pendleton, is one of many county residents who was laid off as a result of the pandemic. When he initially filed his claim, he received letters in the mail stating his claim was not valid and that the unemployment office would reach out to resolve it. Weeks passed. He did not hear back.

“I spent hours upon hours,” Hamman said. “I’ve tried calling them more than a dozen times, all back-to-back calls. Hit the green button, red button, green button, red button. Nothing.”

Hamman said the unemployment department should have prioritized communication channels to help Oregonians who have trouble resolving claim issues.

Communication holdups in the unemployment office are partially due to the antiquated process and system, influx of calls and claims overwhelming the agents and an inadequate number of staff members available to follow up with the thousands of claims filed.

It has been 10 weeks for Hamman since he first filed a claim. As counties begin phase reopenings, with some Oregonians returning to work, Hamman said it’s now too late. He is back to work but is behind on his truck payments and other bills.

“They owe me $7,200 to $8,200,” Hamman said. “I haven’t seen a penny of it.”

Thousands of Umatilla County residents and hundreds of thousands of Oregonians have applied for unemployment as a result of COVID-19, and 12 weeks into the pandemic, many claimants have yet to hear back, leaving people without income to weather mass layoffs, furloughs and overall record-high unemployment.

The unemployment rate for Umatilla County increased to 14.6% from 3.7% in March, with 2,491 unemployment claims filed through April in the county and 171,239 unemployment claims filed statewide. Many of those claims are unpaid, according to unemployment department data. 

Mariah Murray of Hermiston is facing a similar problem. She works as a delivery route driver all around Eastern Oregon. Once the pandemic hit, Murray said her hours were reduced. She initially filed a claim but, similar to Hamman, has not heard back. She said she has claimed a total of 10 unemployment weeks — all still in process.

“I understand that they are swamped, but the government itself has failed for not having enough people to talk to all of us and not answer the phones,” she said.

Murray is in the high risk category for contracting COVID-19 due to previous illnesses. At the peak of the pandemic, when she couldn’t get a hold of unemployment to check on the status of her claim, Murray said she had to keep working despite her risk level of contracting the virus.

“I had an option where I was told if you don’t feel safe to work, you can choose to stay home,” Murray said. “Why in the world would I do that if I can’t even get my unemployment claim? That would be financial suicide, so I went to work and risked it because who knows when they’ll pay the unemployment.”

Since the beginning of the outbreak, the state of Oregon Employment Department has received more than 461,000 applications as of May 23, and out of those submitted, about 43% have been paid, according to a June 3 update from the employment department. The remaining claims, however, are still waiting to be processed.

As a result of the unemployment department’s lack of efficient responses to Oregonians, Gov. Kate Brown asked the director of unemployment Kay Erickson to resign on May 31.

“In the middle of this pandemic, the continued delays from the Oregon Employment Department in delivering unemployment insurance benefits to thousands of out-of-work Oregonians are unacceptable,” Brown said in a press release. “This is an unprecedented crisis, and the problems at the department demand an urgent response.”

Acting Director David Gerstenfeld said in a June 3 press conference that although no state was prepared to deal with the rapid increase in claim volumes, he is dedicated to improving communication and processing times.

“While none of us caused the pandemic, it is my responsibility to ensure we get people the benefits we are entitled to,” he said. “I am dedicated personally and our entire team is dedicated to getting people their benefits.”

In the press conference, Gerstenfeld discussed Project Focus 100, a new department plan created in an effort to manage the number of incoming claims. It is the department’s urgent action plan launched on May 29 that aims to expedite the process times for all claims and to improve communication with the public.

According to Gerstenfeld, since Project Focus 100, the department has increased hiring from 100 employees in March to 700 employees and has recruited volunteers to respond to claimants. He also said the employment department is working on enlisting the National Guard to help communicate with claimants as part of the Project Focus 100 plan. However, Gerstenfeld said that it does take time to train the staff on the unemployment systems.

“They (employment department staff) are helping more people now than we thought possible weeks ago,” Gerstenfeld said. “They are putting everything they have in giving people their benefits.”

There’s still anxiety and uncertainty among Oregonians. Hamman and Murray, among others, say they are still waiting.

“Catch up with me,” Hamman said, referring to the unemployment office. “Plain and simple, catch up with me. Catch up with everybody. Come through.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story didn’t specify that the number of unemployment claims listed was statewide, not for Umatilla County.