When it comes to New Jersey’s State Government it appears the only time something gets done, especially in a “bi-partisan manner,” is when officials reach out across the aisle and collectively choose not to act at all.
So, what do I mean by that? Well, let’s take what has been occurring with the NJ Department of Labor and its inability to get Unemployment Insurance payments to residents who are struggling all across the state since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year. Now, before anyone suggests it, this is not an attack on Democrats or Republicans – rather this is a shared fault by any state officials who have neglected to call out these ongoing problems.
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For the better part of the last year families and individuals have been extensively stressed due to the lockdowns with only a “pinky promise” from Trenton that they will receive unemployment assistance. However, this “promise” has been broken like so many before it – an unfortunate, longstanding practice that is just par for the course with our state.
Initially, when the pandemic first caused lockdowns and an overload of people seeking unemployment, it was understandable that the NJ Department of Labor was overburdened. COVID-19 was not expected, the number of incoming claims were unprecedented, and years of financial neglect to the department’s IT infrastructure wreaked havoc. But those issues, which were fathomable for a period, have just become static excuses for the agency’s inability to correct or even attempt to fix inherent, continuous faults.
Trenton has and will continue to be throw numbers out there telling everyone how much money has been paid to residents or how many claims have been “resolved,” but these random numbers mean nothing to the countless thousands sitting in limbo right now without any money or ability to put food on their tables. In fact, those numbers also mean nothing to the growing number of people whose once “resolved” claims are now either “paused” for weeks or altogether stopped for an undetermined period of time due to a host of new “complications.”
Making matters even worse, if a resident is actually able to speak with a NJDOL representative they are given the key phrase of this will be escalated without being told the unfortunate truth – “escalated” only means it is just going to the next person for review in a long, seemingly never-ending line of unemployment case managers.
Complicating the issue further, staff in legislative offices have become de facto NJDOL employees without so much as an inkling from the agency as to when cases will be reviewed even when a constituent is in dire financial straits. Thus, leaving staff paralyzed to do anything when, by all accounts, they want to actually get people the aid they desperately need.
Something has to be done to correct unemployment’s problems. Trenton must act to find out what is actually going on within the NJDOL’s walls to get residents help now.
So, to the leading members of New Jersey’s State Government (Governor, Legislators, Department Commissioners)– who have yet to make it a priority – stop with the nonsensical runaround, wrapped press releases and talking points about everything under the sun until these issues are addressed. It is well past time that the problems with unemployment are not only recognized, but fixed by Trenton.
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Brian Thomas is a Councilman in the Borough of Neptune City. He has extensive experience working in and around New Jersey government, at multiple levels, for over a decade.
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