Weekly Filing Will Be Offline June 3 to 7 for Data Migration
New Claims Will Be Offline May 31 to June 7
The Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) is reminding Unemployment Compensation (UC) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) claimants to file for weekly benefits before 9:00 PM Wednesday, June 2, to ensure their claim is processed prior to the system being taken offline on Thursday, June 3.
The transition from the current 40-year old UC system to a new, modern system began Sunday, May 30. The system will be offline and unavailable briefly while data is migrated from the old system to the new one, which is the most complex part of any IT system upgrade. The new system will be faster and easier to use and is expected to be live on June 8.
Individuals who are scheduled to file a biweekly claim the week of May 30 to June 5 must have their filing complete by 9:00 PM Wednesday, June 2 to have their claim processed before the system is taken offline. These individuals can also file for these weeks after the new system comes online but the payment date may be later.
No claims processing will take place during the offline period. The system will be offline for everyone, including L&I staff. However, the UC Service Center will keep the phones and email open. They will still take new inquiries from claimants and place them in the queue for when the system comes online. They will also be able to assist individuals who are experiencing issues and will be able to answer questions about the offline period and the new UC system generally.
The new UC system will be much easier to use, provide faster access to relevant information and streamline the unemployment claim filing process for workers, employers, unemployment program staff, as well as the third-party administrators who will be able to easily access and update more of their information. It will offer a more modern interface for users with formatting similar to user-friendly websites most people use every day. The system will be mobile and tablet-friendly and will enable faster communications between users and L&I staff.
To assist individuals with preparing to use the new system, L&I is continuing to host live workshops, provide video recordings of demonstrations, and offer written and visual walk-throughs of the new system. Scheduled workshops are offered in English and Spanish on a variety of days and times, including evenings and weekends. A full list of scheduled workshops and links to connect to them are here. Recordings of each workshop will be uploaded to this page on www.uc.pa.gov.
