Almost two months after floods struck much of Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday bemoaned the fact that the state has yet to issue checks to business owners and independent contractors who have applied for disaster unemployment assistance.
At a press conference Wednesday in Berlin, Scott called the delay a “source of frustration.”
“I don’t want to give excuses,” Scott said. “Those who are in business for themselves haven’t been able to have any income.”
Scott said the difficulties in getting the aid out reminded him of the Department of Labor’s struggle to promptly issue pandemic unemployment assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
VTDigger reported last week that more than 100 people who applied for the program had not been paid. At the time, Cameron Wood, the state’s unemployment insurance director, said he was hopeful that the Department of Labor would start issuing payments this week.
But on Wednesday, Commissioner of Labor Michael Harrington indicated that likely wouldn’t take place until next week.
Harrington blamed the delay, in part, on the complexity of federal unemployment programs.
“Vermont’s a little unique,” Harrington said. “We don’t deal with major disasters on a regular basis.”
Vermont did not have a disaster unemployment system that met federal requirements in place before the floods, so the state “had to build one from the ground up,” Harrington said.
Harrington told VTDigger that the department applied to the federal government for disaster unemployment assistance on July 20 and received approval Aug. 4.
“We didn’t actually receive the funding in our bank account, I think, for a little more time after that,” he said.
This week, employees of the Department of Labor began calling applicants to take their weekly claims. After the department confirms a claim, it submits a payment file to the state’s authorized bank, M&T Bank, so it can begin processing payments.
If all goes according to plan, Harrington said, those payment files should be submitted to the bank by Friday for processing of direct payment to claimants. Those payments would take another three to six days to find their way to applicants’ accounts, he said.
“It won’t be all at once,” Harrington said.
Some applications are being held up because claimants have not filed their tax information to prove that they derived income from their business, according to Harrington.
Disaster unemployment assistance is available to Vermonters whose employment was affected by the disaster but who are not eligible for regular unemployment assistance. It’s limited to the nine counties that fall under the federal government’s disaster declaration.
The Department of Labor has received 1,467 applications for regular unemployment assistance related to the floods. It has received another 125 applications for disaster unemployment assistance, and of those, 48 have been found to be eligible, meaning that all the required documentation has been submitted.
Twenty-eight applicants have been found to be ineligible for disaster unemployment assistance, and most of those applicants need to submit additional documentation, Harrington said.
If people have questions about regular or disaster unemployment assistance, they can call 877-214-3332 or email labor.disasterunemployment@vermont.gov.
