KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Department of Labor website and call center will be unavailable for a period of time this weekend due to a system upgrade.
Deputy secretary Peter Brady said the department is doing a server migration, which is part of its continuing efforts to stabilize the legacy IT system.
In order to do the upgrade, Brady said the website and call center will stop being available after Friday at 9 p.m. The work will happen through the entire day Saturday. Brady said everything should be back up and running by 1 p.m. Sunday.
The upgrade maintenance should not affect filing weekly claims due to most claimants filing Sunday afternoon or Monday.
"This is going to allow us to provide that greater level of customer service and it’s going to keep our system stable as we roll on hundreds of new resources over the next several weeks," Brady said.
The department is also working to make claimants aware of fraudulent social media accounts posing as the department.
Brady said there's recently been a significant uptick in fake Facebook and Twitter accounts.
"We’re actually seeing this nationwide and a few of my colleagues in other states are considering temporarily shutting down their social media presence because it’s been such an issue," Brady said.
Brady said the department currently is not considering shutting down its social media platforms due to the value they provide in informing claimants of changes to programs.
A red flag that claimants can be on the lookout for is being asked personal information.
"Our agency is not going to ask for their personal identifiable information through a social media account," Brady said. "It’s also really important to look at the handle of the account whether it’s on Twitter or Facebook or any place we have a presence to make sure it’s the official Kansas DOL account."