Nevada’s unemployment agency wins national ‘outstanding performance award’

Nevada’s unemployment agency said this week it has received a national “outstanding performance award.”

The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said Thursday it was recognized by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies for its “dedication to reducing fraud and waste” in the Unemployment Insurance system.

“I’m so proud of the hard work the people at DETR do every day,” DETR director Elisa Cafferata said in a news release. “To be recognized nationally for their commitment to efficiencies and improvements is really exceptional.”

DETR was the recipient for Outstanding State Information Data Exchange System performance during the 2020 calendar year. SIDES, an electronic tool that helps employers respond to UI requests quickly, helps to decrease employer costs through reduction of UI appeals, mail processing and follow-up calls with state workforce agencies.

The national award is given to states who achieve U.S. Department of Labor’s goal of using SIDES for more than 50 percent of their overall claim volume in the previous calendar year. DETR said SIDES was used for 60.75 percent of initial and additional claims in calendar year 2020.

Contact Jonathan Ng at jng@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ByJonathanNg on Twitter.