North Michigan News

As Michigan workers continue to face unemployment and adversity, Rep. Jack O'Malley (R-Lake Ann) addresses the problems that need to be solved to help these workers survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thousands of Michigan residents are now unemployed due to the coronavirus and are overwhelming the state's unemployment insurance system, but O'Malley said the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) is completely "broken," according to a column he wrote on Michigan House Republicans.

"The UIA’s website is utterly broken. Calling in has been no better. Instances have arisen where people are put on hold for hours and then eventually disconnected. Hardworking people who now find themselves out of work are waking up in the dead of night to try and call in, thinking their chances of getting through to someone will be greater," O'Malley said in his column. "These are people who need to pay bills, meet overhead costs, stay in their homes and put food on the table. Struggling to apply for vital benefits only heaps additional anxiety onto an already stressful time."

O'Malley said he has been supporting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and all of her executive orders during the pandemic, but he also acknowledges that there are still serious issues that need to be dealt with. 

"The UIA’s implementation in the face of increased demand has gone poorly. It raises the legitimate question of why it wasn’t better thought-out executively when positive coronavirus cases reached our country’s shores and a potential shutdown was in the cards. Doubling and tripling staff when the system is already overloaded is a reactive measure, not a proactive one," O'Malley said in the column. "Instead of devoting time to fix this urgent problem, the governor has complained that the agency has been underfunded. This is a counterproductive and politically charged claim that doesn’t put people first."

Whitmer's executive orders haven't necessarily helped the state either, but have brought it to a standstill, O'Malley wrote. He urges hardworking leadership and administration to help the state and the unemployed. 

"The truth is, we need hard work now to get this right -- not hindsight -- for hardworking people who have had their lives interrupted through no fault of their own," he said in the release. "We need the administration to develop a real plan to move forward out of this crisis, so we don’t see a replay of our current UIA debacle across an even larger scale. People in northern Michigan and across the state are depending on it -- and they can’t afford to stay on hold."