A system glitch caused more than $100,000,000 in unemployment payments to be delivered late this week.
The Arizona Department of Economic Security is now issuing an apology for the mix up.
“It’s a horrible feeling,” said Delia Minjares.
“It’s pretty scary, it’s like what do I do now,” said Nicola Henderson.
These are just two of thousands of Arizonans who wondered Monday why they didn’t receive their unemployment payment on time.
“I was shocked, I was like where is it, what did I do wrong,” said Henderson.
Henderson is a single mom and helps care for her 80-year-old grandfather.
Like many others whose jobs were affected by the pandemic, the money she receives from the state is critical to her survival.
“Absolutely crucial and it’s absolutely crucial they pay it on time because you have payments set up with creditors and you expect the money and you have automatic payments coming out, and they don’t pay it and don’t even give you a reason,” said Henderson.
Like Henderson, Delia Minjares was stressed as well.
The lack of communication is their number one complaint.
“You’re like stuck not knowing what to do, you can’t call cause obviously thousands of people are calling also and you’re not going to get through,” said Minjares.
Both women checked their accounts again Tuesday morning and the money still wasn’t there. However by noon, it suddenly showed up.
“When I saw it today I was like yes, yes, it’s all ok, it’s ok,” said Minjares.
According to DES, a system glitch caused the delay of $142 million in payments.
Telling ABC15 they worked quickly to fix the issue throughout the day Monday.
At this point most people are reporting they’ve now received the money.
However many remained concerned going forward as DES continues to face questions about their handling of these payments.
“Here comes next week when I’m supposed to get paid and then am I gonna face this again,” asked Minjares.
DES released the following statement on the delay in payments:
"Ongoing required adjustments to the UI system created a system issue that prevented the payment of benefits for individuals who filed their weekly unemployment insurance claim on Sunday. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims were unaffected. Our teams dedicated yesterday to analyzing the issue and resolving it as quickly as possible. This morning, we began the distribution of over $142 million in payments. We sincerely apologize for the delay and inconvenience."
