Thousands of North Carolinians file for unemployment, listing coronavirus as the reason
Thousands of North Carolinians have filed for unemployment benefits since yesterday, when Gov. Roy Cooper ordered bars and restaurants to shut down statewide, except for takeout and delivery.
The shutdown went into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. But starting at noon on Tuesday the state officially was allowing people to list COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as a reason for unemployment, said Larry Parker, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Employment Security.
Between noon Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, Parker said, 4,721 people filed for unemployment due to COVID-19.
It’s typical for North Carolina to see 2,000 or 3,000 claims every week — not every few hours — according to statistics from the federal government.
Sean MacRonald, a 26-year-old from Durham, said he has worked in the restaurant industry since he was 17 and said Wednesday that even just one day into unemployment, he’s getting bored with his “unexpected vacation” and wants to go back to work. But his employer, Durham’s swanky Asian fusion restaurant Juju, told the staff they would all be laid off, MacRonald said.
He said he understands that some of the workers might have the chance to get hired back immediately as delivery drivers, but he’s not sure yet what he’s going to do. If he does end up filing for unemployment, he said, he’s grateful that the restaurant formally terminated everyone instead of just slashing their hours but technically keeping them on staff.
When Cooper ordered bars and restaurants to close, he also ordered the state government to relax its rules and make it easier for people to qualify for unemployment benefits. One of those new rules was making it possible for people to qualify for unemployment if they don’t get laid off but do have their hours cut — however, it’s still easier to qualify for unemployment if you’ve been officially terminated.
“When I told my parents about it, they freaked out like it was the end of days,” MacRonald said of being laid off from Juju. “But I was like, ‘Mom it’s OK, they’re doing it to help us get unemployment right now.’”
Cooper’s order also lifted a requirement that people have to prove they’re actively looking for a new job if they want to keep getting paid unemployment benefits. He said it’s so that restaurants and bars don’t reopen, only to find all their workers have moved on.
MacRonald said he wants to go back to working at Juju, so he’s grateful for that.
Also happy to hear about that change was Ben Misleh, 30, who worked at A Thyme Savor catering in Wilmington until they were also forced to close and lay off their staff, at least temporarily.
“That’s a huge help,” Misleh said of Cooper’s order, since he’d like to go back to his old job in the future. “And honestly, even if I wanted apply for a new job, I doubt anyone’s hiring right now.”
Cooper’s order also said businesses affected by his order to close won’t have to help pay for their former workers’ benefits, as is usually the case.
“We know that people want to work and businesses want to stay open,” Cooper said Tuesday. “The reality is many can’t.”
Problems with claim applications
With the sudden rise in unemployment claims, The News & Observer has heard from multiple readers recently about problems and glitches they faced when trying to apply for benefits.
Misleh was one. He said he tried to file for unemployment Tuesday night but got locked out of his account and had to call the state to reset his password. By the time he called, though, no one was answering the phones so he had to call back Wednesday morning.
“They opened at 8, I called at 8:03, and got put on hold for about three and a half hours,” Misleh said. “But once I did get with someone they apologized for the delays ... and were able to quickly reset my password.”
Misleh said Parker is one of the state workers who helped him out, and that he only had good experiences with everyone.
“Frankly, I was kind of surprised with how responsive they were,” he said.
Parker said his coworkers at the department are aware of the issues with the glitches and long waits, but still are trying to help people “as quickly as possible” online or over the phone.
People can apply by calling 888-737-0259 or visiting www.des.nc.gov.
Right now the website itself isn’t experiencing any problems, Parker said, “but the claims application portion did have problems yesterday as an item in the system that deals with special claims was disrupting other claims being filed. We resolved it fairly quickly and remain to monitor it.”
But for at least the near future, people should be prepared for potential delays. In all of February combined, the state received around 11,000 unemployment claims — compared to the nearly 5,000 claims submitted in the hours after Cooper announced his order closing bars and restaurants.
If those numbers keep up they could rise to levels not seen since the Great Recession a decade ago, when North Carolina often saw 30,000, 40,000 or even 50,000 unemployment claims a week.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Thousands of North Carolinians file for unemployment, listing coronavirus as the reason."
