The U.S. unemployment system would make Kafka blush

I am a 42-year-old, well-educated, working mother of two with a long corporate business development career. Until three weeks ago, I had confidence in my general aptitude and problem-solving abilities. This changed when I filed for unemployment insurance.

It began when the startup I had briefly worked for downsized due to COVID-19 and I joined the 2 million Californians who had already filed for unemployment benefits.

Like millions of people across the globe, I was already facing other coronavirus-related stressors: the fear associated with losing a job, protecting a family from infection, being an inherently impatient person now running a home school for a 7- and a 4-year-old and engaging in near CIA-caliber operations to uncover when the toilet paper shipment would arrive at my local supermarket.

None of the above holds a candle to the challenges associated with navigating the unemployment matrix.

After googling “how to file for unemployment,” I was directed to California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) site, which led me to believe there were three ways to file: by mail/fax, phone or online. I ruled out mail/fax: the warning of “allowing additional time for processing” combined with not owning stamps or a fax machine in six years did not align with current COVID-related challenges.

As a person who typically has many questions, the phone seemed to be the most efficient way to get my concerns addressed. I then noticed that the phone lines were open four hours per day, five days per week. It was Friday night.

Online it was. The process took an hour. It required me to search my records for addresses, phone numbers, and start and end dates of my previous three employers. I needed a calculator. While doing pre-algebra level math, the site timed out without saving changes. It was the first “online application” I had completed that “closed” at 10:00 p.m. (which I realized at 9:43).

A few days after filing and not receiving an email confirmation, I called the phone number. A recording said they were “receiving more calls than [they] have the capacity to answer.”

I called at 8:00 a.m. the next day, when the lines allegedly opened. I got the same recording. I googled “how do you speak to a live person about unemployment?” I was giddy finding another phone number, calling it, and being placed on a 28-minute queue to talk to an agent. My misplaced excitement level at hearing a live woman after 28 minutes paralleled that of opening my college acceptance letter.

She was not the “right person.” She said to call back the number that does not accept calls with the “hope” I would get through.

That was two weeks ago. I have since spent numerous hours registering with CalJOBS, California’s job search site, which required me to input a manual resume (despite having a perfectly polished PDF version that can be easily uploaded upon request) and providing EDD with a detailed statement why I should be entitled to benefits. That led to tears due to site crashes.

California has since “expanded” EDD’s phone hours from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I still have not made live contact.

Despite raised blood pressure associated with this process, I know I am one of the privileged ones/ My big concerns are my poorly run home school and a scarcity of one-ply toilet paper.

Other people are not as fortunate. Undocumented workers, uneducated individuals and members of the ethnic minority groups that are falling ill from COVID-19 and are unable to work can’t rely on “hope.” Many need unemployment benefits desperately and immediately. They are making tough choices about which bills to pay.

Others might not have a computer or functional internet service to even complete the application. Some might interpret site crashes or timed-out sessions to mean they have completed all necessary steps. Others simply might not have the knowledge to understand or complete the application.

COVID-19 has strained our processes and workforces; however, it is hard to believe that the unemployment system runs smoothly during normal times. It does not account for the wide range of individuals it is supposed to support and asks too much of people during their scariest moments.

I am one of the lucky ones; I have the resources to “hope” the unemployment system works. Others don’t. They need our protection the most.

Owens is a brand partnerships executive.