Department Of Employment And Economic Development

Always get a calm and kind person on the other end.

The online uimn account will often find issues with the information you enter because it’s an algorithm that’s not capable of human judgement and evaluating circumstances of unemployment. Then when you almost inevitably need to take the next step to clarify what’s going on with your pending issues after applying/reapplying, you think it’s a good idea to call the number loat under “contact us”, as you would for anything where you need something to proactively get done. When you call you’re met with a robot voice who tells you to enter information connected to your account, except the instructions are unclear as to how to enter letters through a phone pad, and there is no clear feedback if you entered information correctly. If you weren’t able to get what they want to hear because you were confused or the system doesn’t work right, it asks you to repeat the process over and over. After you’ve entered a long list of numbers for long answers, or stop entering numbers for any length of time beyond a few seconds, it hangs up on you. It’s been impossible for me to get through this phone system even though I know the answers I need and I’m almost 100% sure I entered them correctly. Now I might have to physically go to the office location downtown because I happen to live close by, but this should never have been necessary, and I don’t even know if that will work. Terrible experience, especially after my previous experience filing for the first time was seamless and I never needed to talk to customer service. I genuinely don’t know what they expect you to do in order to get what you need, they blatantly don’t care enough to make it more accessible, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the system intentionally difficult in order to not have to deal with peoples issues personally, or to allow understaffed call centers, etc. It’s pretty scary how they don’t take peoples needs seriously at all when getting unemployment assistance can literally be life or death, and make or break someone’s situation. Do better UIMN cause this ain’t cutting it.

Have been waiting over 150 days for my claim to be processed. I've called at least a dozen time, get transferred to senior management and keep getting told to wait and that they have no idea when it will be done. This past time I was told that I should try and get money from the United Way while I wait. 100% unacceptable. Our government needs to do better

Waited almost an hour to be answered by a rude customer service representative who had told me that staff weren't trained enough to answer questions concerning eligibility. She sounded like she wanted to end the call quickly and be rid of me. She wouldn't let me talk to anyone else and repeated her spiel and hung up on me.

Disappointed in how unemployment is handled. I have been waiting since March to receive my benefits. No one is available to speak to anyone now because of Covid -19. This is frustrating. I deserve my funds like everyone else.