Official: VEC only responding to ‘small portion’ of calls Sarah Rankin, Associated Press Tags: RICHMOND, Va. – Workers at the beleaguered Virginia Employment Commission are still responding to only a “small portion” of calls for help related to unemployment benefits, a state official told lawmakers Tuesday, presenting troubling preliminary findings from an ongoing agency audit. Lauren Axselle, who is leading a review of the commission for the state’s legislative watchdog agency, also raised concerns during her presentation in Richmond about staffing turnover, a technology modernization project and whether real progress was being made in working through a backlog of claims requiring adjudication.