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Lawmaker Calling for Investigation of Maine Dept. of Labor

The House co-chair of the legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic development committee is asking for an investigation of the State Department of Labor’s new unemployment insurance payment system. Biddeford Democratic Rep. Ryan Fecteau says lawmakers have received numerous complaints about the system.

Fecteau says he has heard from individuals who could not get through to the agency to file claims online or on the phone. Fecteau says he and other members of the committee have heard from current and former staff at DOL that there have been problems with implementing the new system.

“We’ve heard from over a dozen former and current employees at DOL, two former employees at OIT [Office of Information Technology] who were intimately involved with the new online portal,” says Fecteau.

In a memo to the committee, Labor Commissioner John Butera says there are no problems with the new system. He declined to be interviewed concerning the allegations about the implementation. In an email, his office stated he would accept questions only if they are in writing, which he would then respond to in writing.

Fecteau says the Commissioner should be willing to answer questions in a public forum. He is very concerned that individuals that were qualified to receive benefits were frustrated when applying.

“The Department doesn’t seem to concern about people who give up, but I am,” says Fecteau. “I am concerned about people who were not successfully to file a claim and ultimately gave up and didn’t receive a benefit which they may have been eligible to receive.”

Fecteau says he wants the Government Oversight Committee to investigate the allegations he and others have received. He says while his committee cannot compel DOL to answer its questions, the GOC has subpoena powers to compel testimony and the production of documents to find out what really happened in the rollout of the new system.

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.