By Joshua Huff, sports editor
MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Department of Labor launched a new claims tracker to help speed up the claims process for unemployment benefits, the state agency said on Monday.
The UI Claims Tracker enables people who are eligible for the government’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) to upload their income documents directly, a department news release stated. Claims can also be filed online at www.labor.alabama.gov or by calling 1-866-234-5382. Patience is encouraged when trying to file a claim, the department added.
More than $372 million in unemployment benefits was distributed to nearly 180,000 claimants in Alabama between March 16 and April 24, the state agency said. According to numbers provided by the department, more than $372,344,837 million was distributed to claimants during that week with $247,872,000 of those funds coming from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which is the $600 stimulus benefit added to weekly unemployment compensation benefit, $3,264,249 represent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds (PUA) and and $1,884,959 represent Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) funds.
For those seeking unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic, 64% have been issued payments, according to the department.
“We know that many people have still not been paid, and we understand that frustration,” Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “We are listening to the complaints and concerns and continue to work to modify our systems to make them more user friendly and to make this process move faster. We continue to ask for patience as we work expeditiously.”
Washington stated this past week that the state will also add a new call center with more than 60 additional staffers to alleviate the volume.