WICHITA, Kan. — Kansans still are waiting to receive unemployment benefits as the Department of Labor continues to be overwhelmed by new claims.
Mindi Fisher, who lives in Wichita, has been waiting for weeks for unemployment to come through. She was laid off from her environmental engineer position at Spirit Aerosystems on Feb. 7 under the WARN Act, a notice to employees of a mass layoff.
The Department of Labor, according to paperwork provided to 41 Action News, deemed her eligible for unemployment after 60 days of WARN Act benefits ran out.
"[I] sent them my last paycheck stubs stating that I was paid until April 7, and I can't get a word back from them,” Fisher said.
She's still waiting for KDOL unemployment benefits.
"This will be the last month that I can fully pay my bills,” Fisher said, “so I'll be starting to make phone calls and seeing what I can do to push up the bills for a month."
She now works the phones trying to speak to someone at KDOL, sometimes consuming most hours of her day.
"The most I've called is 325 times in one day,” she said. “And I've been able to get through on the phone lines once, and that was on April 23 where they just told me to wait."
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she is “fully cognizant” of the fact that many people are frustrated with the unemployment system.
"I want to reassure them they’ll get their money,” Kelly said. “All this is retroactive, and they’ll get it and I apologize for the delay.”
Fisher said she still is working the phone and now, her emails – she has been corresponding with the Kansas Senate, saying, in part, she is "an unemployed, broke individual begging and pleading with the Department of Labor for benefits."
Her biggest frustration, she said, has been not being able to connect with anyone to discuss what is happening with her account.
"We have to do something,” she said. “We can't continue to sit on our hands and wait for something to happen because it's not happening.”
