Beshear promises to resolve March unemployment claims this week

Governor Andy Beshear is promising that some of the nightmares Kentuckians are having with unemployment will be resolved by the end of this week.

Daily WKYT receives emails, phone calls and messages from people still either not able to get through to the unemployment office or they have not received their first checks.

It has been an extremely long time some people have been waiting on their benefits and they fear time is running out.

Some said they still have not been able to talk to anyone or get email answers. Others say they filed, but are still waiting to get their first checks.

WKYT spoke with two people Monday about the situation, Kris Lang and Paula Simonton-Alexander.

Lang has received some money but now he’s having trouble getting any more money. Simonton-Alexander has not been able to get any more after losing her job as a substitute teacher on March 19. Both say it’s extremely frustrating with the lack of answers.

“It now says I am back under a protest, and I claim in May again, and I started a process all over again this morning," Land said. "And that I way I called you. It has come to a point of humor with me. One of these people that answered the phone call that decide to put you to tier 2 told me this morning that people are in a panic in this state.”

“I have type one diabetes, and it’s due to fill my prescription," Simonton-Alexander said. It’s expensive. It’s like, I have gone through all my savings.”

Governor Beshear promised answers and results for people like Lang and Simonton-Alexander this week.

The governor has said that some more than 1,000 people are now taking calls at the unemployment office. But people we've talked to tell us that even when they are able to get ahold of someone, often those people say they are not qualified to take down the claim information.

WKYT has tried several times over the past week to get another interview with the Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman or other workforce development officials, but have been repeatedly told that no one was available.