A Letter to my State Representative

21 August 2009

Tucson District Office
The Honorable Gabrielle Giffords
1661 N. Swan, Suite 112
Tucson, AZ 85712

Dear Congressperson Giffords,
I was laid off from my job as a technical writer at IBM in February 2009. I received a severance package and believed that I would find work before the severance money ran out. Nonetheless, I filed for unemployment, just in case.

I have now been unemployed for eight months and have received a total of about $500 from unemployment. I received my initial two payments for unemployment but then there was an unresolved issue noted on my claim. That is because, when I was asked if I was available for work one week, I answered honestly and said that I was not. Due to my honesty, my claim has been on hold pending investigation.

I was sent a form. I filled it out and return it within the week stating why I was not available for work. I did that more than a month ago but the issue has still not been resolved. I tried to check my claim online but there was no information about what the problem was or the status. I called the help line but the lines are so full that the system just asks you to call back later and hangs up. I have been trying to call for about a month now.

I finally went to the DES office in town to see what I could do about the problem. They don’t actually handle unemployment insurance claims but they said that they could send a fax to the person responsible for my claim. That was two weeks ago and I still have not gotten a response.

How is a person supposed to get by when the safety net that the country has set up doesn’t work? I know that we are seeing a record number of people applying for unemployment insurance at this time but what do I need to do to start receiving the unemployment insurance payments that I am owed? I am ashamed of the state of Arizona for the pathetic state of the unemployment insurance system and how the claims are (or are not) handled. If there aren’t enough people to handle the number of claims, maybe the state should hire some more people. I would like to see you address this issue immediately as there are many more like me and in much more dire straits than I am.

Sincerely,
Erin Still Cizina