PHOENIX — This may be the worst time of year to be out of a job and out of money, yet thousands of Arizonans are in limbo with the state right now because their unemployment claims are being held up.
Claims filers can’t get an answer one way or another whether they qualify for payment because their cases are in what’s known as adjudication.
According to DES, 1,900 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, known as PUA, are currently in adjudication and another 5,500 unemployment insurance claims, known as UI, are pending adjudication.
We asked DES how quickly these cases should be resolved. They didn’t give us a timeframe and said in a statement:
“There are a variety of factors our team needs to assess before claims can be processed and paid, including ensuring the claim hasn’t been affected by fraud.”
They suggest things should improve next month with the implementation of an identity verification system starting December 6th, “(It) will allow us to ferret out virtually all fraud and focus on eligible claimants needing assistance as we continue to move forward.”
To date, the state tells us they’ve delivered more than $12 billion overall in unemployment insurance to more than 2 million Arizonans.