KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said her state’s Department of Labor was working to improve its systems before the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.
As thousands of Kansans file for unemployment, the KDOL’s phone lines have been clogged and its website down periodically.
The department’s system, Kelly said, “is antiquated and and really not up to doing the job on a regular day, much less handling crisis like this.”
Having served in the state legislature for 14 years, Kelly said she knew the department was operating on an outdated computer system before she became governor, and her administration, upon entering office, began to modernize it.
“It’s not an easy thing to do. It requires a lot of coordination,” Kelly said. “They were setting up all those kinds of meetings and processes to be able to upgrade this system, then we got hit with this and that had to be put on hold.”
With a statewide stay-at-home order in place until May 3, many workers whose jobs are not considered essential business have been laid off.
Kelly said the KDOL is receiving more than 750,000 calls in a day regarding unemployment benefits.
While the department’s staff answering calls has increased from 20 to 150 people who are working extended hours, the massive call load equates to 5,000 calls per employee, per day.
“That’s overwhelming in any circumstance, but particularly when you’ve got such an antiquated system you’re trying to work from,” Kelly said.
Kelly did not specify future plans for the department’s systems in her interview with 41 Action News on Thursday.
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