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Hoosiers wait for fix that led to unemployment denials

A question meant to identify fraud is reportedly causing unemployed Hoosiers to miss out on receiving their unemployment benefits.

INDIANAPOLIS — An issue with the state's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance is causing countless Hoosiers to miss out on getting benefits.

"I had no problems up until Sunday night, whenever I filed my voucher and I had an eligibility issue come up," said Alisha Lambert.

Lambert is one of many who say they've gotten denied for unemployment vouchers for unknown reasons.

She became an admin for the Facebook group, "Indiana Unemployment Peer to Peer Information," to help others who were also experiencing difficulties.  

"It's gotten ridiculous. People shouldn't have to wait months when they're told 21 days and they reach their 21-day mark and they still can't get any help," said Lambert.

On Monday afternoon, a post on the Indiana Department of Workforce Development's Facebook page stated a new question was introduced on the weekly vouchers to help identify fraud.

The federal Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) Program was recently created... to provide temporary additional benefits to unemployed American workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The State of Indiana, through the Department of Workforce Development, has applied for funding under this federal program and plans to begin providing it to eligible Hoosiers within the next three to four weeks.

It's a question that has now caused confusion and is expected to be resolved by mid-week.

13News reached out to DWD, but have not yet heard back

Lambert said she spoke with a supervisor at DWD who told her it was a system error.

"He told me he did not think it was a question that caused the eligibility issue. He said that they had updated the system on Thursday night," said Lambert.

Lambert also said the supervisor told her it would take 24-48 hours to fix the error.

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