Some jobless workers still waiting for benefits as Western Pa. businesses look to reopen

Matt Kastner of Irwin has been waiting for almost two months for the day he can return to his job at a Blawnox music store, which has been closed since mid-March as part of Pennsylvania’s attempt to slow the spread of covid-19.

“We haven’t received word when the store will be back to normal operations,” said Kastner, a drum sales manager at N Stuff Music. “The entire staff, except for the three owners, are on furlough at this time. There’s 20 of us who are currently collecting unemployment.”

When he wasn’t working in the store, Kastner was a freelance drummer, recording music and playing fill-in drummer for bands and musicians. The shutdown of entertainment venues closed that source of income as well, he said.

Kastner is among more than 1.7 million Pennsylvanians who have filed initial unemployment claims since Gov. Tom Wolf in March ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to close. Wolf on Friday announced 13 counties, including Allegheny, Westmoreland and others in the region, will move into the yellow phase of reopening May 15. Restrictions on some businesses will be lifted, a process that started Friday in 24 counties in northern Pennsylvania that were the first to begin reopening.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest it has been since the Great Depression. About 20.5 million jobs were lost last month, the worst monthly loss on record.

Pennsylvania has made 11.4 million payments totaling $5.4 billion to people who filed for unemployment amid the covid-19 shutdown, said Susan Dickinson, director of the state’s Office of Unemployment Compensation Benefits.

But with 1.7 million new claims filed since mid-March, the system is swamped, and jobless workers have complained about waiting weeks to get benefits.

Because of the backlog, Dickinson said it takes 33 days for the Department of Labor and Industry to answer emails.

Kastner said he is one of the lucky ones who has received jobless benefits.

To unclog an overwhelmed system, Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said the state has hired 250 new workers to deal with unemployment compensation claims and brought back 250 retired workers to lend a hand.

State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-McKees­port, proposed an unemployment compensation booster in March as part of the “health and business recovery plan.” The federal government came through with the CARES Act that contained an extra $600 a week in unemployment compensation for the jobless. That proposal also includes a recommendation for bridge grants for small businesses to help them through the coronavirus-related shutdowns.

Brewster has another stimulus proposal in the works to help those who may have “fallen through the cracks” in the social safety net, said Brewster spokesman Hugh Baird.

That safety net is being strained by the overwhelming number of workers who have received unemployment compensation and others who are just hanging on, waiting for a check, said Barney Oursler, director of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee. The organization dedicated to helping the jobless dates to the early 1980s, when the region’s steel industry collapsed and thousands of people lost jobs.

“It’s more like a tidal wave — a tsunami,” Oursler said of people who have filed for benefits and are waiting.

Even if the state has processed 80% of the initial claims, that likely has left some 300,000 people waiting, Oursler said. Having their claims processed, however, is not the same as getting checks.

While employers are eager to reopen their businesses, Oursler said there is no mechanism in the federal Paycheck Protection Program that have provided money for employers to hire back workers who lost their jobs.

“They can hire whomever they want without a union,” said Oursler, a former steelworker.

Even when they reopen, the startup is likely to be slow — and some people who lost their jobs may not be back on the job before their $600 weekly supplemental aid expires by the end of July, Oursler said.

Adding to the uncertainty for workers, Oursler said, is that some may be fearful of returning to work because of concerns they could become infected with the coronavirus.

One of those is Jean Frye of Ross, who stopped working as a Lyft driver in March as the fear of the coronavirus swept into the region.

“I’m in a vulnerable position because I am diabetic,” said Frye, 65. “I’m worried my health will be compromised if I go back.”

Frye may be eligible for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides up to 39 weeks of benefits to those in the “gig economy” — the self-employed, freelancers and independent contractors who are not employed by a particular company.

“I have not received anything yet,” said Frye, who filed for unemployment benefits only recently. “I am worried they will expect me to drive again and they will take away any benefits, if I ever get any.”