ANNAPOLIS, Md. — After a rocky start, the Maryland Department of Labor says people filing for unemployment on the state's online BEACON site, experienced zero to minimal wait times on Sunday and Monday, allowing for the department to process over double the amount of claims filed last week.
“During the past two days, over 201,000 Marylanders have filed their weekly claim certifications. On Sunday alone, the site processed 141,000 weekly claim certifications, with claimants filing an average of 5,800 weekly certifications every hour. This is more than double the 65,000 weekly claim certifications that were processed last Sunday, April 26," said Labor Secretary Tiffany P. Robinson.
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According to the department, many citizens applying for benefits through the federal CARES Act, have had trouble providing new information required to file. Those problems have led to some claims being deactivated. The Labor Department says they have set up a way for the claims to be reactivated.
“In response to the feedback we received from claimants, our department has implemented an automated solution to reactivate these claims and prevent benefit payments from being interrupted," said Robinson. "Marylanders with a claim that became inactive last week can now login to their BEACON One-Stop account to file their weekly claim certification like normal. Those with a claim that became inactive this Sunday or Monday after filing their weekly claim certification will also have their claim automatically reactivated, but do not need to refile this week’s claim certification," Robinson said.
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With the online unemployment claims site up and running, officials say Maryland is now the only state with a "comprehensive system to allow all eligible claimants to apply online in one place."
