One of the co-chairs of a panel that is trying to improve Ohio’s unemployment compensation system says more work is needed to make the agency more responsive to the needs of jobless Ohioans.
State Rep Mark Fraizer (R-Newark) says one of his constituents had to wait 38 weeks to get unemployment. And Frazier says the panel has heard lots of complaints like that from people in the state.
“People who are going through the appeals process or the overpayment process that are having a very, very difficult time navigating everything, inconsistency with the phone lines, inconsistency with the level of peer services. And so the complexity of it is very difficult for people to navigate," Frazier says.
The unemployment compensation modernization and improvement council recommended improvements be made in transparency and communication for Ohioans using the system and upgrades to the system's technology.