Lake County Gazette

“IDES offices closed to the public until further notice.” This is what people will see on the Illinois Department of Employment Services website. State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Antioch) brought up this concern at the House floor.

Weber questioned the agency’s office closure and called out the governor on this issue.

“IDES offices have been closed for over a year,” he said. “I don't understand why the agency isn't doing everything in their power to get back to serving the people of Illinois to its full capacity. This isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, it is an issue that has impacted thousands of Illinoisans. I ask for this body and IDES and the governor to do more.”

Weber pointed out that there have been “Unanswered calls, unanswered questions” and it’s unacceptable having an unresponsive agency. Illinoisans have been calling “in vain for months to get someone on the phone for help and come up empty.” He mentioned that not all have the capacity to do services remotely and not all matters can be addressed online.

He emphasized that “private businesses and other agency offices like the Secretary of State's office have been open for months, throughout the pandemic these offices have done their best to stay open, only closing during the worst of the pandemic and opening as soon as possible. Why haven't we seen that same effort from IDES.”

Illinoisans have been left in limbo for weeks waiting for callbacks from IDES. It had a backlog of 156K calls in February and there are 33,337 calls awaiting a response from IDES staff, as of May 11.