Postal system being blamed for late unemployment checks

By Fred Pace
Register-Herald Reporter

March 12, 2008 08:14 pm

— A manager with the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs Unemployment Compensation division confirmed Tuesday that some who receive unemployment checks have complained that they received the payments late last week.
“This is not the result of a computer glitch, but rather it is a U.S. Postal Service issue,” said Gail Vititoe, a manager at the Charleston Unemployment Compensation office. “We cut and print the checks, send them to pre-sort and take them to the post office in Charleston the same way, at the same time, every week.”
Vititoe says occasionally throughout the year claimants call from a particular area of the state, or from a certain ZIP code, to complain about not receiving their checks on time.
“This happens from time to time in various areas,” she said.
Vititoe said if a claimant typically receives an unemployment check on a certain day each week, it is a good idea to call her office if the check is not in the mail.
“There could be some type of problem, like we didn’t receive that week’s claim form,” she said. “Sometimes the address may be incorrect and the check was mailed back to us. If you don’t get it on time, it’s best to call to make sure there are no problems.”
Vititoe said once a claimant verifies the check has been mailed, they must wait five days from the date it was postmarked to file a formal written missing check report.
“Then we begin an investigation,” she said.
She said all of the state’s unemployment checks are mailed from Charleston.
“That doesn’t mean it’s the Charleston Post Office’s fault or the Beckley Post Office’s fault,” she said. “I am just saying it’s a postal service issue because checks were mailed on time this past week.”
— E-mail: fpace@register-herald.com