MACON, Ga. — A Macon County man got some good news after he talked with 13WMAZ about about his experience trying to get unemployment benefits. It turns out he made a mistake while filing for his benefits, a mistake the Georgia Department of Labor says is a common one.
Over the weekend, we spoke to Ken McBrearty, who said he hadn't received his unemployment funds in over eight months. "I keep filing every single week and I still have not received anything."
McBrearty, a self-employed salesman who works at fairs and events, said he could not get in touch with anyone from the Georgia Department of Labor.
Just hours after our report aired, his problem was solved.
"This new system set up by the federal government with the CARES program addressed those individuals who didn't have wages in the regular UI program -- those 1099 folks, the gig workers, the self-employed individuals that hadn't been paying into a UI program," says Kersha Cartwright, the director of communications for the Department of Labor.
Cartwright says this is a mistake they've seen before. She says it all comes down to whether you qualify for unemployment insurance, known as UI, or pandemic unemployment assistance, known as PUA. Cartwright says it's easy to correct once it's detected.
"The way to request payments is different. There's a regular UI request payment area and then there's a PUA request area. We make sure that we put out a lot of information particularly in the beginning, make sure you're requesting payment in the right area," she says.
She says although phone and email are still the sure fire ways to try and get in contact with your local career center, she says there's another way to possibly get your questions answered.
"Watch our social media platforms. We like to put out lots of posts, especially if people are having the same issue over and over again. We look at those trends every day and follow our social media comments to say, 'What do we need to talk about? What do we need to better address in getting communication out?'" she says.