Strike Force concludes work to clear Nevada unemployment claim logjam

Nevada’s workforce agency said its problem-solving task force, aimed at clearing the unemployment claims logjam and creating efficiency, has concluded.

Former Assembly speaker Barbara Buckley, who was chosen by Gov. Steve Sisolak in August to lead the “Strike Force,” said the team has completed its objectives, but she acknowledged that there is still work to be done.

“When the Strike Force began, there were 245,765 claims in the backlog,” Buckley said in a media briefing call Thursday. The bulk of that backlog, 217,000 claims, were within the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, meant for gig workers and independent contractors. The rest were regular unemployment insurance, or UI, she said.

Strike Force bolstered DETR staffing

The beleaguered agency only had 181 employees within the agency’s Employment Security Division to handle the crush of unemployment claims because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Buckley said.

The Strike Force team consists of volunteers who had experience working in information technology, state computer systems and software, and those in the private sector.

“They’re problem solvers that care about the state, and they made this journey much more enjoyable and productive because of their skills and talents,” Buckley said. “Over the last five months, we have spent hundreds of hours analyzing our unemployment system and offering solutions, many of which were implemented immediately and others which can be implemented over the long term.”

Buckley said Steve Fisher, an administrator of the state’s Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, suggested adding welfare eligibility workers to DETR’s manpower to handle the influx of claims, which “is the first time in the state’s history that this was ever even considered much less undertaken.”

Nearly 200 workers from that agency joined DETR’s ranks, and through last Friday, those employees processed 88,064 unemployment cases, “a remarkable amount of work,” Buckley said.

“For the UI cases that were there when we started the backlog is now zero of those who had monetary eligibility,” Buckley said. “On the PUA side, there are 16,000 left from that original 217,000.” She said the remainder of those claims are likely fraudulent.

Currently, DETR employs 746 workers to work on unemployment cases, the team said.

Fraudulent claims

The Strike Force said the fraud it encountered was seen across the country.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor released new data that shows that more than 1 out of every 4 PUA claims filed in the nation came from Nevada.

“To put it in some perspective: More applications have been filed than there are people in the state’s workforce,” Buckley said. “That means hundreds of thousands of fraudulent claims. Nevada is not unique; our identities have been stolen and are being sold on the dark web.”

The agency has signed contracts with various vendors that have software and programming to eliminate fraud, including with identification vendor ID.Me, which the Review-Journal first reported in August.

“DETR is no longer stalled by these criminal networks and are using these technologies to get benefits to the true Nevadans who are waiting,” Buckley said.

The former Assembly speaker said that fraud will be a pervasive issue that will plague every state.

“This is not a problem that’s going to go away: All state systems will have to get ready, private sector systems will have to get ready because of the massive level of ID fraud that is going around our nation,” said Buckley. “Much still needs to be done to keep one step ahead of these criminal rings.”

Buckley said she’s “hopeful” the federal agents will look into the widespread unemployment fraud.

“I’m very hopeful that the Department of Justice and the FBI Cyber Task investigators are going to begin taking a larger role, because the same criminal networks are targeting every state,” said Buckley.

Archaic systems

The Strike Force leader said DETR’s systems that process UI and PUA claims are clunky and expensive and require tons of maintenance.

“The computer system serving ESD is slow and outdated; it’s been unable to keep up with the volume of claims,” said Buckley. “In the meantime, we have two systems that don’t talk to each other, so modernization needs to occur.”

The Strike Force stressed the importance of improving the filer’s experience and the agency’s need for better crisis planning, Buckley said. She said the Strike Force didn’t originally plan to stay five months, but the agency was severely understaffed to meet the crush of claims.

“We were planning on sticking around, studying the system within 60 days, 90 days,” she said. “But honestly, one of the biggest problems facing the system was a lack of staff power and being so far behind, that our team decided to stick around to offer suggestions, solutions, and meeting weekly.”

Buckley said that while there are many challenges facing DETR, “With the new department leadership in place, we are confident that the department will meet those challenges and continue to serve Nevadans in need.”

The strike force’s conclusion comes days after Sisolak announced Cafferata as the permanent director of DETR.

“She is the right person for the job, and I’ve been impressed by her dedication to this department over these past five months,” said Buckley.

Sisolak lavished praise on the force’s efforts over the past five months.

“While challenges remain, I am proud of the work of the Strike Force, DETR leadership and employees, and DWSS employees to tackle these issues head-on, and am confident that DETR’s current leadership can carry forward the Strike Force’s progress,” Sisolak said in a statement.

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