Lake County Gazette

With state unemployment offices having been closed for a year this month, lawmakers are challenging state leaders to get the ball rolling. 

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Lake Barrington) was one of several to call out the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) for its staggering unemployment case backlog. 

"The IDES has failed completely," McLaughlin said in a May 20 news conference. He said he was shocked at the quality of service that Illinoisans out of work have received. "They haven't just failed recently, they've been continually failing."

The legislator's office has been flooded with calls and emails from concerned, frustrated and frightened constituents since January, McLaughlin said, people who are just looking for an update on when they will get unemployment help from IDES. 

"It has been almost four months since I've been in office and I've not seen any improvement," McLaughlin said, "or any less flow of complaints from those that aren't being served properly. After 14 months, the IDES offices are still closed and the same problems remain at the local level."

The representative challenged IDES to open just as many other state departments and municipalities have managed to safely do months ago. 

McLaughlin's constituents are still waiting weeks or months for a callback from IDES. 

"And the staff has unfortunately been often rude to the constituents in my district," McLaughlin said. "These are complaints that claimants routinely experience, hang-ups and disconnections."

The representative feels that the incredibly long backlog and the nine months that it takes to train a new IDES employee speaks volumes on the oversight and management capabilities of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his administration.

Other lawmakers are frustrated, too. Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Highland) referred to the state's management of pandemic-related unemployment as "a disaster from the beginning," and Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Watseka) recently told the Peoria Standard that the current IDES operations model is clearly not working.  

McLaughlin also called for the reopening of public schools so parents can get back to work. 

"We are going to incentivize people to get back into the workforce and grow Illinois again," McLaughlin said, "and that's the only way that we can build the middle class."