HARRISBURG - The unemployed in Pennsylvania - pregnant people, parents unable to pay child support, nursing students, and adult children caring for disabled parents, among many others - have spent months over the last year waiting to receive benefits they are entitled to from the state Department of Labor and Industry, to little avail.

And depending whom you ask, some much-needed relief - or added suffering - is imminent.

This week, the state’s 60-year-old unemployment benefits computer system will temporarily go dark as officials roll out a massive upgrade to a new, cloud-based program. The project, nearly two decades in the making, is being hailed by the Wolf administration as the long-awaited fix to problems that have stymied state benefit claimants during the pandemic, and for years before it.

But technology experts and unemployment advocates are warning that the state’s decision to shift now, while so many Pennsylvanians are still relying on the benefits, is irresponsible. It could exacerbate existing problems as well as divert resources from helping those who are stuck in a backlog.

Bumps in the road

The overhaul is the heart of a $35 million contract with Florida-based Geographic Solutions Inc., which is leading the project and will manage the new system. Residents will not be able to file new state unemployment claims from May 31 through June 7, and people with continuing claims will not be able to file from June 3 through June 7. The new system is to be up and running June 8.

William Trusky, the state’s deputy secretary for unemployment compensation programs, said he anticipates minimal benefit disruption but acknowledged, “There will be bumps in the road.”

Fourteen months into the pandemic, as many as one million people in Pennsylvania may still be struggling to find work, according to the most recent job numbers, from April. Of that number, at least 212,600 are relying on state unemployment benefits, and an average of more than 22,000 new claims have been filed each week for months.

At a labor hearing at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on May 24, claimants held up signs reading “Pay Benefits Now” and “How Long Must People Wait!,” the words hand-drawn in bright markers. As state officials lauded the launch of its new system, workers presented letters to lawmakers and reporters showing they were approved for federal benefits in December but have never been paid.

GSI was awarded a separate, $4 million contract in 2020 to process federal benefits in Pennsylvania. Lawyers and advocates have brought complaints to the state about the contractor, which include cutting off at least 50% of benefits from people it accidentally overpaid, higher than what is legal in the state, and identification issues, with little state intervention. GSI technology has in the past been criticized in other states, including Louisiana and Tennessee.

‘I am not fraudulent’

Hundreds of thousands of claimants are also stuck in a backlog, waiting for their state and federal claims to be reviewed and for payments to arrive. State officials contend that more than 80% of the roughly 200,000 pending federal claims are fraudulent; there are also more than 100,000 state claims pending review.

But advocates counter that a combination of GSI’s technology and the department’s failings, such as inadequate staffing, leaves deserving and desperate people in limbo. They said some people have been mistakenly flagged as fraud, and others present at a recent legislative hearing said they had been hamstrung by identity verification investigations.

“I am not fraudulent,” said Adrienne Berry, 54, an independent contractor whose cleaning business temporarily dried up as a result of the pandemic and who needed to prioritize caring for her grandson.

Berry said she received three weeks of payments in 2019 before her claim stalled without explanation. While she recently started working again, she has not received any of the benefits she is owed for the weeks she went without assistance since December.

Because the new computer system will handle state unemployment claims, it will not address the issues faced by workers relying on federal pandemic benefits.

Michelle Griffith, a spokesperson for GSI, said the new system slated to go live in Pennsylvania has “been thoroughly tested and has been successfully operating in multiple states for a number of years,” while deferring questions to the state.

The state Department of Labor and Industry has faced an enormous wave of claims since March of last year, paying out $43.5 billion in various state and federal unemployment benefits over the last 14 months, handling 4.7 million calls, emails, and chat messages in that period.

Claimants in Pennsylvania have spent hours, often days, trying to get help from the department and its decades-old system.

Why now?

Officials insist that it is necessary to launch the new system now, and when it goes live on June 8, claimants will see a crisp new portal that streamlines the ability to review their claims, communicate with caseworkers, upload documents, and more easily appeal denied applications.

“I understand change is scary,” acting Labor Secretary Jennifer Berrier said during a May 10 news conference. “However, we are ready - we cannot delay.”

Waldo Jaquith, a government technology expert who works at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, said the odds for success are “really gruesome.”

Jaquith said the state is using a “Big Bang” approach, by shutting down the old system entirely, which leaves little room for inevitable errors in between. Making technological improvements piece by piece has proved to be more successful, as well as prioritizing worker training so staff understands how to use new systems.

“One hundred percent of the time I advise against these things where you just flip a switch,” he said. “You are just setting yourselves up for trouble.”

‘Rubber bands and duct tape’

Since the onset of the pandemic, the Department of Labor and Industry has added hundreds of workers to help process more than six million federal and state claims, including more than 80 claims examiners and 250 contract workers to answer the phone, but has cited problems with retention and being able to train staff skilled enough to handle complex cases.

Still, there have been numerous issues. The mainframe system required batch uploads that could delay certain processing to occur the next day, and did not allow people to see updates in real time. State officials also contend that it’s not intuitive, it’s difficult to code new federal or state regulatory changes, and it does not readily allow claims examiners to see problems as they arise.

Berrier downplays the power and sophistication of the mainframe, saying it is “held together with rubber bands and duct tape.”

There are also technical concerns: Advocates said a new password requirement could lock numerous people out of the system, and the state’s attempts to educate the public about how to use the new portal are not practical or helpful for most.

It is relying on claimants to read a 45-page instruction manual posted on its site or attend an hourlong webinar.

Scott Andes, executive director of the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University, said too few governments prioritize the most important question when modernizing a system: Does the technology benefit the public?

“I don’t think we have seen that across the board,” Andes said.

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