KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Department of Labor went live Tuesday morning with a new application process for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA).
Several Kansans told 41 Action News they experienced issues accessing the site Tuesday morning.
Kansas City, Kansas, resident Denise Workman said she received an error message while trying to apply for the program.
As a former IT worker, Workman said she empathizes with the department.
"It's like trying to build an interstate in three weeks, I get that, but they should have had a disaster plan in place to begin with," Workman said.
The state of Kansas has battled with technical issues related to unemployment claims since they began to skyrocket in March. State officials blame an "antiquated system" for the problems.
PUA expands benefits to those who are not traditionally eligible, such as self-employed workers, independent contractors and gig workers.
To apply, applicants need to provide proof of their quarterly earnings during 2019.
The KDOL recommends people have this list of documents ready when they apply:
- 2019 tax returns
- 2019 1099 forms
- Paycheck stubs
- Bank receipts
- Ledgers
- Contracts
- Invoices and/or billing statements
The department has a list of frequently asked questions available about the assistance, which will be rolled out in three phases beginning Tuesday, May 12.
Phase 1 involved creating the new system to accept applications. Phase 2 will be for processing applications and issuing payments, which the department said will be issued no later than May 25, 2020. Phase 3 will issue payments to those eligible for partial UI payments and/or claimants who have exhausted UI benefits.
The department said those payments will be completed no later than June 16, 2020.
41 Action News has reached out to the department regarding the technical difficulties but has yet to hear back.
