The Commonwealth of Kentucky has extended its contract with Ernst and Young through the end of the year to continue work of processing all unemployment claims that have backlogged since the pandemic began in mid-March.
Labor Cabinet Deputy Secretary Amy Cubbage spoke during Governor Andy Beshear’s Tuesday news conference and says the nearly $17 million that will be paid to Ernst and Young will come from CARES Act funding.
Cubbage says even at full capacity, their employees could write up to 4,000 of those letters a week, but now Ernst and Young employees can now write the letters, which will increase the speed the letters can be written.
Kentucky is the second state to seek outside help for the unemployment system, with Indiana being the first, according to Cubbage. Ernst and Young will provide 100 employees each week for the next four weeks, they will assist in writing the letters. By October, the company will provide 25 employees to continue the work of clearing up the backlog.
Cubbage says there are about 3,000 claims from March that have yet to be processed and around 70,000 left since April.
Governor Andy Beshear announced 807 new COVID-19 cases and a positivity rate of 4.4%. In addition, Beshear confirmed 15 new deaths, which is the highest single-day total since August 20. The state’s death toll is 948. Dr. Steven Stack, the state’s health commissioner, also said the state’s mortality rate is 1.9%.
