By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-849163.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Weekly unemployment checks could be delayed for more than 15 thousand Texans after the end of this month. They are the ones who exhaust ALL current unemployment benefits at the end of July. KERA's BJ Austin reports.
Texans who have run out of regular unemployment benefits and the two extended benefit periods may qualify for 13 more weeks of unemployment under the federal Recovery Act, but the Texas Workforce Commission says there will be a lengthy "gap" in processing those claims. Ann Hatchitt, with the Workforce Commission, says it'll take two more months to ramp-up the complex program.
At the Texas Workforce Commission office in Dallas, Vonda Joseph is looking for a job. She says a delay in benefits is going to be devastating for a lot of people.
Joseph: That will be too much. That will be a major issue. They'll lose homes, they can't afford to pay rent, they'll lose their cars. They can't afford to wait.
The Workforce Commission says there are 82 thousand people on the state's final benefit level . As they end 59 weeks of unemployment, they may roll into the Recovery Act benefits, but they will likely experience various delays in getting those payments.