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There have been numerous issues with Washington state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) and its inability to deliver timely unemployment aid to the tens of thousands of people who need it. An auditor’s report also came out recently highlighting problems within the system.

We’re right on the cusp of a sizeable stimulus package coming out from Congress. Is the ESD ready to be able to distribute this in a timely manner? Paul Roberts from the and joined Seattle’s Morning News to discuss.

“There are a lot of unknowns here because as the ESD announced, the new stimulus money is going to come with all kinds of requirements imposed by the U.S. Department of Labor, and the states — Washington and other states — it’s their responsibility to make the payments, but follow all the very specific rules so they essentially have to set up a new payment system in order to roll out the money,” he said.

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This type of program appeared to have not worked well in the case of unemployment assistance payments this past spring, but ran more smoothly with the lost wages program.

“We’ve seen sort of two examples of that in Washington and other states, and in one case, it worked well, and in one case, it didn’t. So the one that didn’t work well was when they were trying to roll out the new unemployment assistance payments this spring. … There were just so many new claims that it just overwhelmed the system. And, you know, that happened in other states as well,” he explained. “And then the state, the ESD, was unable to respond to people’s questions. It didn’t have enough people answering the phone, its website was glitchy.”

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“But you contrast that with what happened in late summer when they rolled out that temporary $300 a week payment, the lost wages assistance program. And although that only lasted, you know, I think six weeks, it was rolled out a lot more smoothly,” Roberts added. “So we’re hoping for a repeat of the second example and not of the first.”

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