Nevada pushes online application for unemployment

The state agency that oversees unemployment benefits is urging people who have experienced a COVID-19-related job loss to apply online and announced Tuesday it will close centers that were providing in-person help.

But some people trying to file claims say they are having technical issues when trying to apply online or by phone.

Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) is the state agency responsible for unemployment insurance.

“We’re really encouraging people to go online,” Rosa Mendez, a Southern Nevada-based spokeswoman for DETR, said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s the fastest, safest way to get your claim processed.”

The state agency announced just before 5 p.m. Tuesday that it will close Workforce Connections’ One-Stop Career Center and Nevada JobConnect Career Centers until further notice “due to safety recommendations related to COVID-19,” according to a statement.

“Closing of the JobConnect Centers to the public will not impact how claimants file for Nevada unemployment insurance,” DETR director Dr. Tiffany Tyler-Garner said in a statement. “We continue to work with our partners and the entire workforce development system to ensure that we can provide the support needed as DETR experiences a rapid influx of unemployment insurance claims.”

On Tuesday morning, a few dozen Las Vegas Valley residents waited in line outside One-Stop Career Center on West Charleston Boulevard to access phones and computers to file a claim. It was the second consecutive day the center has seen crowds seeking help as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs.

One-Stop Career Center is a federally funded agency that provides employment services — and partners with DETR — but it doesn’t process unemployment claims. And it’s not an unemployment office.

Mendez said Tuesday she doesn’t know how many people have filed for unemployment insurance as a result of COVID-19, but the state agency is working on compiling the data.

DETR officials are hearing about technical issues some people are experiencing with filing a claim, Mendez said, but noted they are more a result of user issues than a problem with the system itself.

“As an agency, we certainly understand and feel for the folks who are visiting us,” she said.

Crowd at One-Stop Career Center

Just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, it was mostly quiet at One-Stop Career Center as people waited outside. A couple of security guards monitored the crowd from the parking lot near the front entrance. One woman in line — who was wearing a face mask — yelled and cussed at a Review-Journal photographer who was taking photos.

Las Vegas resident Ana Reyes, 52, was among those in line. She had a scarf pulled up covering her mouth as she waited. She said she had tried to file a claim by phone but wasn’t successful.

Reyes was laid off from her job as a master cook — a role in which she supervised employees — at the MGM Grand and her last day at work was Sunday. She also has her own small business, established in 2018, called Ana’s Microgreens.

Reyes told the Review-Journal that her boyfriend — also a master cook for MGM — lost his job, too. And one of her children, a single father who worked at Mandalay Bay, was laid off.

She said the ripple effects of COVID-19 are being felt not just in Las Vegas but globally. And here locally, she said, she knows she’s not the only one who has been laid off.

“It’s not just me,” she said. “It’s like everybody.”

Reyes said her sister is a nurse at a local hospital and her brother-in-law recently had a kidney transplant, so it’s already a challenging time for her family.

She said her family members are trying to support one another, including cooking meals at her house to deliver to relatives. “That’s what families do.”

Reyes called Wells Fargo to ask about receiving assistance with her mortgage payments. “They gave me a four-month break,” she said.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Camille Brewer said in a Tuesday statement by email to the Review-Journal: “Wells Fargo is working on a daily basis to ensure we are putting measures in place to support the needs of our customers impacted by COVID-19 in the most effective ways. We are currently providing assistance including fee waivers, payment deferrals, and other expanded assistance for credit card, auto, mortgage, small business and personal lending customers who contact us, and we will continue to communicate with customers as the situation evolves.”

Reyes, who’s originally from El Salvador, said difficult times lately are reminding her of the challenges she went through during her childhood.

But the mother of two adult children — who are 30 and 28 — said she has been praying. And she says people to need to support each other. “We’re all going to get through.”

Tips on applying for unemployment

Here are tips from DETR about filing an unemployment claim:

— Apply online.

The state agency is pushing for people to file online and says it’s the best way to apply. The website is ui.nv.gov/css.html.

If you encounter technical problems, call 775-684-0427 or email INTERNETHELP@detr.nv.gov to get help.

— There’s a call center with extended hours where you can file a claim.

DETR’s call centers have extended their hours and can assist people from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

DETR expanded its phone system and staffing Monday to support the increase in unemployment insurance claims, the agency said in a statement Saturday.

Help is available in English and Spanish, with translation in different languages as needed.

Here are the call center phone numbers:

— Southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas area: 702-486-0350

— Northern Nevada: 775-684-0350

— Rural areas in Nevada and out-of-state residents: 888-890-8211

Those trying to file a claim for unemployment benefits face long wait times via DETR’s phone system.

Mendez said the call volume is “so much higher” than usual but didn’t have specific information about the current wait times, as of Tuesday morning.

— Don’t show up to DETR’s administrative offices if you want to file a claim.

The state agency has two administrative offices: one in Las Vegas at 2800 E. St. Louis Ave. and one in Carson City at 500 E. Third St.

The offices don’t have the capacity to help people with filing claims, Mendez said. But employees can help answer general questions about the process.

— Watch a video tutorial.

DETR has an instructional video on YouTube — available in both English and Spanish — for how to apply for unemployment insurance.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.