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A proposed settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit that claimed people seeking Oregon unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic faced long delays in receiving their payments.
The proposed settlement would benefit two Classes of individuals:
- A main Class of all individuals who have been either partially or completely unemployed between March 1, 2020, and the settlement agreement’s effective date; have applied for or tried to apply for unemployment benefits through the Oregon Employment Department (OED); and have been waiting more than four weeks since applying without receiving a payment or a denial for at least a week of benefits other than the “initial waiting week”
- A Subclass of those in the main Class who have applied for or tried to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, OED must be in “substantial compliance” with federal first-payment timeliness requirements by March 1, 2021, and with the federal non-monetary adjudication timeliness by April 1, 2021.
The OED will be required to complete the initial processing of 80 percent of initial unemployment insurance benefit claims, as well as 80 percent of PUA claims filed on or before Dec. 26, 2020, within 21 days of the claim’s filing, the proposed settlement states.
Eighty percent of PUA claims filed after Dec. 27, 2020, must be processed by March 31, 2021.
There are instances in which these terms will not apply, such as on any claims delayed because the OED is waiting on external parties (excluding employers) to provide necessary information.
The OED also would be required to make its regular unemployment application available in Spanish online by May — eventually adding support for at least 10 languages — and provide outreach to people with limited English skills who have not been able to access their benefits because of the language barrier, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
To ensure the OED is abiding by the terms of the settlement, the department would be required to submit reports to the U.S. Department of Labor, and to the Oregon Law Center within one day of their submission to the Department of Labor. This would begin with the reports for the period ending March 31, 2021.
Though the Oregon Employment Department has agreed to settle the case, it admits no liability.
Have you faced long delays while waiting for your Oregon unemployment assistance since the pandemic began? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Kelsey Heilman of the Oregon Law Center.
The Oregon Unemployment Class Action Lawsuit is Florentina Flores de Vega, et al. v. Oregon Employment Department, et al., Case No. 20CV23377, in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
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31 thoughts onOregon Unemployment Applicants Reach Proposed Settlement with Employment Department
i filed 3/20/20 did it for 7 weeks now am home less i was a gig worker never heard anything from them stop doing week check ins but i feel i should get paid for the weeks i filed it would get me back on my feet
I filed a claim on September 20th, 2020. About two months later I received an email asking some questions. I’d answered the questions and forwarded my answers. Then I asked how long it would take. She responded but my claim remains not processed yet, with my claim as non-valid. Then I requested and appeal, filed new claims, sent several contact us forms trying to get something accomplished. NOTHING! Then about a month and a half ago I received an email from a gentleman telling me I was going to get my appeal to hang tight and answer a few questions. Id answered those questions just to not hear from anybody again. Yesterday I got an email asking me about my claim again. When I was affected by Covid-19 and the date it began and how it affected my ability to work. I’ve sent my responses in hopes this is it but I have a feeling its them just stringing me along just one more time.
I filed an initial claim that was denied in Dec 2020 and missed the appeal date that I received notice of by mail but somehow my file was hacked and not only was my name and address changed but my birth date, Yea somehow their system allows that to happen and have unsuccessfully tried for months to fix so I can try to get benefits that someone else might have got paid on (they refuse to give me that info) but if they expect me to pay taxes on benefits I never received they are highly mistaken because I did nothing wrong. The last time I spent all day 8am just to get in que to be connected with live person at 3:30pm) on hold to find out the system won’t let them reset my password or change my date of birth to fix it and told me to call another dept that said to call fraud line and was told they would escalate file and call me back three weeks ago so do I get paid for day and time I waste on hold cuz that’s pretty much a full time job that I am being forced to do for free since I still haven’t got paid a penny I spent months I could have spent looking for a job instead
I made PUA claims for 10 months in 2020, but was finally denied because the employment division decided to categorize me, and others as well, as regular employees. I was doing gig work up until March of 2020, and until that time the state of Oregon considered me to be self employed.
My last unemployment check was 10/08/20 at $205 a week my remaining balance was $6560 available payable funds I have been waiting 5 months so far…I am homeless now…. Have mailing address letters from UO tell me to be patient waiting on covid bill too pass….that’s a lie ….where’s the money from last 2 relief bills shady crooked…….I want to sue them for pain and suffering for not returning my emails, phone calls,letters, you tube comments… There playing the micromanaging fall out game…… Want people back to work… And keep there 5 months of benefits…….. Joo no contact empty promise game………..
I too have been claiming with no response s since October 2nd 2020. When I use the “Where’s My check?” Option it always said initial claim not processed yet. When I checked on Friday Evening my claim appears to have been deleted from the system. I certainly hope that’s not how the requirements are met by just deleting our long standing claims.
I have doing my weekly claims for PUA since June or July. Each week says not processed yet. I receive letters stating my week claimed can’t be paid due to an issue in the process of being resolved. In mid January I received a letter stating I was entitled PUA and my wwwkly amount. I have not yet received any payment and I have emailed and called. I get no responses or just a busy signal.
I filed for pua in Jan I wasn’t sure if I did right claim started calling and sending contact me forms o. Jan 23 ,2021 could get thru on phone no responses to me forms I then got a restart claim message and couldn’t claim weekly still calling 100s of calls either busy or after hrs on hoksd system would just hang up on me or recording says call back after iv been holding for hrs then in march got in one day 12 denial letters from reg ui nothing still from pua says hasn’t processed requested a hearing got a letter stating they can’t give me a date as to when just to wait its been 2 month and not any answers to restart claim or gearing or claim statues just always busy tones ( I call 50-100times a day) no responses EVER to any of the countless contract me forms iv sent its beyond unprofessional to conduct this way when I say red either $ or an answer as to what’s a happening I’m ready to help change how Oregon handles their responsibility to the people who deserve fair treatment and do something to fix a broken system please help me get answers thank you
Im in the same boat as all of you..HERE IS A TIP TO GET THRU ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT PUA SPECIALST LINE
STEP 1 call 5033705412
This will bring you to there messaging system .
Step 2 press i think its 4 to enter in the name of who your calling..
Step 3 after soing that all you have to emter for the name is any random 3 numbers it can be 345, 654,765 any combinatoon of three number obviously not 1 or 0.
Step 4..after trial and error i did it my first time got thru to a lady i said i am sorry i miss dialed can you transfer me to a pua specialist to be put on hold..and bam thwy force you theu to be put on hold… I have done this 4 times works everytime.. I hope this helps everyone and dont worrie your money is coming at somepoint they will pay u just no matter what keep filing your weeks and back weeks you can start a claim in august 2020 and bwck date it to feb 3 i think.. Any who there ya go.
I was denied pua stated that I qualified for standard unemployment, but my claim had expired and I got no further assistance. My son continued to file for 6 months, filing his online claim every week for 6 months before reviewing a payment
I turned in my claim on line for the PUA assistance on 10/28/2020 it is now 02/23/2021 4 months and I still have not gotten a final
decision (payment or denial) it still says not processed on my weekly claims page on line and every week I claim I get a letter in the mail that says they can’t pay me for that week because my claim is not valid at this point I don’t know what to do.
Both mine and my boyfriends claims have been nonvalid not processed since 12/1/20 we have tried calling … Emailing everything