Employment Security Commission explains computer shutdown that sent filers home

Imagine standing in line for hours to sign up for extended unemployment benefits only to hear someone from the local workforce center announce, "Our system has just went down. We cannot even see any information. Computer system's down for the night."

That's what happened Wednesday night in Spartanburg, sending some people home without being able to sign up for the extended benefits. People assumed that "computer system's down for the night" meant that the state Employment Security Commission had crashed.

But the state ESC explained to News Channel 7 Thursday that there was no crash or malfunction. Spokesman Clark Newsom says, "Actually, the computer system was supposed to go down at eight o'clock. We had to shut them down at eight o'clock to get them ready to pay the normal checks that we have to pay for people that are getting unemployment insurance." He says the system is shut down every night at 8:00.

There have been computer problems at the agency before, but Newsom says those problems had to do with computer programming, not the agency's 25-year-old computer system. "Even though the system is 25 years old, the equipment is working pretty well," he says. "It's the programming time and the variables that we're facing that is causing the complications."

The extended benefits will mean up to 19 more weeks of checks for those who qualify. Hope Carter was in the Columbia office Thursday afternoon to apply. She's been out of work for a year and her benefits ran out in May. "It'll be helpful for me and maybe it can carry me on until I'm able to find employment," she says.

Those who were in line Wednesday night when the computers were shut down were told to come back Thursday and they would be seen first.

Below is Wednesday morning's announcement from the ESC about the extended benefits:

The South Carolina Employment Security Commission has begun taking claims for those individuals who are unemployed and may be eligible for two additional levels of federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC). The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of the EUC legislation allows for those who have exhausted all rights to previous emergency and/or extended benefits to possibly apply for the new EUC levels referred to as Tier Three and Tier Four. Tier Three provides 13 weeks of unemployment compensation while Tier Four offers six weeks of additional benefits.

If an individual receives a notice from the SCESC, this indicates a review of their claim shows that they may be eligible to receive benefits under this new program. Unemployed South Carolina residents who receive these notices from the Employment Security Commission should take them to their nearest workforce centers to file immediately for the EUC benefits. For the convenience of claimants, the working hours of SCESC workforce centers have been extended from 8:30am to 7:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday, December 16-17, 2009, and on Saturday, December 19, 2009, from 8:30am-2:00pm.

Out-of-state residents should contact the Interstate Unit at 1-800-529-8339 or 1-866-397-2752 to file for these benefits.