By Scott Bauer
Associated Press Jun 2, 2021
MADISON
Wisconsin should get tougher on unemployed people who apply for jobs to meet work search requirements but then skip out on the interview, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday as he advocated for eliminating a $300 enhanced payment for the unemployed.
Business leaders at a roundtable discussion organized by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce told Vos and fellow Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu that the worker shortage problem has reached a breaking point.
âThis has gone from an annoyance pre-pandemic to a crisis,â said Scott Mayer, chairman of staffing agency QPS Employment. He said his company has more than 5,000 job openings in Wisconsin and the supply chain is in danger of breaking down because there are not enough available workers.
FBI issues warning about unemployment benefits scam
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -The FBI has issued a warning for Hoosiers about a scam to steal unemployment benefits. More than $120,000 has been stolen since April.
The scammers send a text to victims claiming to be from the Department of Workforce Development with a link to update information for unemployment benefits. The link either installs malware on your device or sends you to a website asking for personal information that is then stolen and used to sign up for unemployment benefits.
Officials warn not to engage with the text at all to prevent having your phone number used for future scamming attempts. Instead, individuals are encouraged to screenshot the text, and then contact law enforcement and Scam Alert before deleting the text and blocking the number.
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Flickr Republicans rejected a proposal from Gov. Tony Evers to give the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development $15 million to improve administration of unemployment benefits, suggesting instead he direct federal aid money to the department.
Republicans who control the Legislature s budget-writing committee scrapped Gov. Tony Evers plan Wednesday to hand the Department of Workforce Development $15 million to improve how it administers unemployment benefits.
The agency has been plagued by lengthy delays in getting checks to people who have lost their jobs since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the department was taking two weeks to adjudicate applicants eligibility details as of mid-May, up from nine days in the first week of March. Appeals were taking an average of 78 days to process as of mid-May, up from 74 days in the first week of March.