Unemployment Insurance Questions

NBF

Member
Guys, gals, do not forget to CERTIFY PERIOD of 04.19.2020 - 04.25.2020. I just completed my certification. Good luck everyone and Happy Sunday.
 

Bann

Doris Day meets Lady Gaga
PREMO Member
:lol: I've been applying since 3/24 - and weekly on Sunday after the first week.

This morning, I got right in at 7:30 to the new system, and there was an "Action Item" noted for me to take action on - which was the Weekly WEBCERT. :yay:

I ALSO got a TEXT MESSAGE (since I changed my communication preferences the other day) and it told me I had an Action Item. :yay:

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(edited that photo - sorry guys! It posted way larger than I thought it would)
 
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NBF

Member
:lol: I've been applying since 3/24 - and weekly on Sunday after the first week.

This morning, I got right in at 7:30 to the new system, and there was an "Action Item" noted for me to take action on - which was the Weekly WEBCERT. :yay:

I ALSO got a TEXT MESSAGE (since I changed my communication preferences the other day) and it told me I had an Action Item. :yay:

View attachment 147701


(edited that photo - sorry guys! It posted way larger than I thought it would)
Cool Bann! I’m not losing my mind or senses after all. Guess I’ll mark in my calendar to do this every Sunday morning. Again I got up early to do this and it went extremely well. Now the wait begins. Guess for those who receive the extra federal $600, they won’t see it paid on the website, but will receive it onto their BOA debit card. So, does anyone know if ALL unemployed Marylanders receive this significant kicker or is it limited to a certain type of unemployed category?
 

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I was able to do my first Weekly WEBCERT this morning as well. System was SLOW but I got it in. (Appears to be down at the moment.)

Thanks @Bann for the heads-up about changing communications preferences. I was able to do that as well this morning.
 

Bann

Doris Day meets Lady Gaga
PREMO Member
Cool Bann! I’m not losing my mind or senses after all. Guess I’ll mark in my calendar to do this every Sunday morning. Again I got up early to do this and it went extremely well. Now the wait begins. Guess for those who receive the extra federal $600, they won’t see it paid on the website, but will receive it onto their BOA debit card. So, does anyone know if ALL unemployed Marylanders receive this significant kicker or is it limited to a certain type of unemployed category?

Go here and scroll down to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance section (PUA).
 

NBF

Member
Cool Bann! I’m not losing my mind or senses after all. Guess I’ll mark in my calendar to do this every Sunday morning. Again I got up early to do this and it went extremely well. Now the wait begins. Guess for those who receive the extra federal $600, they won’t see it paid on the website, but will receive it onto their BOA debit card. So, does anyone know if ALL unemployed Marylanders receive this significant kicker or is it limited to a certain type of unemployed category?

Ok, did a little research as to what Marylanders will receive the $600 federal kicker on top of their weekly UEI:

1) Who is covered by the new law?
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a) The CARES Act creates three new unemployment insurance (UI) programs. These cover individuals:
  1. (1) who are not eligible for traditional UI benefits including the self-employed, independent contractors, and gig economy workers;
  2. (2) who are currently receiving regular UI; and,
  3. (3) who have recently exhausted their regular UI.
2)
How much will I be eligible for?
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a) Benefit amounts will be calculated based on the income that you received over the prior 18 months. Those who receive benefits will also receive an additional $600 per week.
3) Are gig workers, freelancers, and independent contractors covered in the
bill?
a) Yes. There is a special program which provides benefits to those who are not traditionally eligible for unemployment insurance, which includes gig workers (Uber, Lyft, AirBnB hosts, etc.), freelancers, and independent contractors. This special program expires on December 31, 2020.

I've attached the CARES ACT FAQ to this message for your reading pleasure.

Take care all...
 

Attachments

  • MD DOL CARES ACT FAQ.pdf
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stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
The Beacon site is back up and mucho faster. The weird thing is it said I had another weekly certification to complete. I completed that and went back to the dashboard. Refreshed the page and it said I still had another weekly certification to complete. So I completed another one. All the information appeared the same but.... So now I've completed four weekly certifications and it says I still have another one to complete. I'm guessing that's another system hiccup so I'm just going to leave it alone for a while.
 

Bann

Doris Day meets Lady Gaga
PREMO Member
The Beacon site is back up and mucho faster. The weird thing is it said I had another weekly certification to complete. I completed that and went back to the dashboard. Refreshed the page and it said I still had another weekly certification to complete. So I completed another one. All the information appeared the same but.... So now I've completed four weekly certifications and it says I still have another one to complete. I'm guessing that's another system hiccup so I'm just going to leave it alone for a while.
:yay:
There was a message on the page earlier (about 2pm, I think)

But it's still there. :lol:

We are currently experiencing technical issues with the online BEACON application and have a team of professionals working hard to quickly resolve them. In order to perform this necessary maintenance, our vendor must take the application down for a period of time. We expect to have the application back up early this afternoon. All progress in your application should be retained. When you log into the application again, you may need to cycle through the question pages to return to your place. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
This is so like government to redesign a critical system when it's at peak usage. :lol:

They just had to implement a major back end upgrade on the "Get Payment" IRS web site to make it actually start functioning for most people. LOL...
 

NBF

Member
Resulting email:

Dear Queue-it User,


This email is your unique ID to the line at Maryland Department of Labor.

You can return to the line and check your status simply by clicking on the link below. You can use this line ID from any computer that you can access your Inbox from.

This is your line ID:

When your turn to enter the website you are waiting in line for is coming up, we will send you a reminder by e-mail. You should return to the line as soon as you receive the reminder, as you will be given a limited time slot to enter the website and start your transaction. If you do not start your transaction within this time limit, you will lose your turn and place in line, and will have to start over.

IMPORTANT: Please keep in mind that e-mails may be delayed, moved to your spam folder, or lost due to reasons beyond our control. Queue-it does not guarantee the timely arrival of this e-mail, or your reminder e-mail, to your Inbox. Therefore, we recommend that you check your status in line frequently to avoid losing your chance to enter the website you wanted to visit.


Kind regards,

Queue-it
www.queue-it.com
 

Bann

Doris Day meets Lady Gaga
PREMO Member
Mother of gawd. :rolleyes:

I'll be lucky to ever see money fronm the state of MD. :lol:
 

NBF

Member
Guess what? Of course I miss the email by a few minutes and was unable to enter the site since my 10 minutes had ran out! If they had the option of sending a text it would be a better way to be notified.
 

NBF

Member

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Subject: IMPORTANT - Update from the Maryland Department of Labor's Division of Unemployment Insurance
The Maryland Department of Labor’s Division of Unemployment Insurance sincerely apologizes for the difficulties surrounding applications for unemployment insurance benefits. The launch of the new online BEACON One-Stop application was intended to offer Marylanders the opportunity to quickly and easily file all types of claims and weekly certifications entirely online 24/7. The launch of the site has clearly fallen short.
We share your frustration, and are committed to ensuring the site is fully functional and operating without capacity delays as quickly as possible. We understand the dire financial situation that many of our Maryland families, friends and neighbors are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We do not take this responsibility lightly.
In order to implement the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) programs in a timely manner, we recently partnered with Sagitec, an outside benefits administration program vendor. If we had attempted to program our older system to accept applications for the CARES Act, it would have taken weeks, if not months. This was not an option. We want to make sure that all eligible Marylanders receive the benefits they need and deserve as soon as possible.
We were hopeful that our partnership with the vendor would provide rapid solutions. Instead, it has caused a series of challenges for applicants. The vendor’s platform could not sustain the volume of visitors to the site. This was not acceptable, and we are taking immediate actions to fix these problems.
As a result, we will be taking the application down nightly between the hours of 1:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m. until the problem is fixed to perform maintenance and resolve any ongoing technical issues. While the website will be unavailable to customers during those early morning hours, this time was selected to impact the fewest number of claimants possible.
In order to prevent the overload of the system that users have experienced, we have introduced a virtual waiting line. By entering this system, you will be able to see how many individuals are waiting for site access, receive an estimated wait time that is constantly updated, and sign-up to receive an email when the system is ready for you to access the platform. This will provide more certainty about when you will receive assistance, but, more importantly, it will help ensure the capacity problems the platform experienced in the past do not reoccur.
We anticipate that, despite the waiting time, the process of filing your claim and certifications will proceed more smoothly because of the limitation on the number of people able to file at a given time.
We are also implementing a new gating system to increase the number of customers who are able to complete their filings with minimal hassle and frustration:
  • On Sundays and Mondays, ONLY our customers who are filing weekly claim certifications will be able to file, in order to ensure that Marylanders can receive their payments timely and when needed. If you are unable to file your weekly claim certification on Sunday or Monday, you are not restricted from filing it on any other day.
  • On Tuesdays through Saturdays, our customers can file new claims as well as complete all other activities.
The Department of Labor is working around the clock to improve this situation, and we will keep you updated on a regular basis, through e-mail and on Facebook and Twitter. During these trying times, you deserve openness, clarity, and transparency from us, and we will do better.
Sincerely,
Tiffany's signature

Tiffany P. Robinson
Secretary
 
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