LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For many, DETR was a dirty word during the pandemic.
We heard from hundreds of viewers who were beyond frustrated by backlogs, lack of help, even the inability to simply get through on the phone to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation.
I tackled those problems with dozens of stories in 2020 and 2021. You can see several of those below.
There are still relics of the pandemic at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. There are decals reminding people to stand six feet apart while waiting for help. And those the stickers may be peeling and fading from memory, the effects of the fraud and dysfunction at DETR remain.
"The people that answer the phone don't really give a rat's tail about what's going on," one viewer told me.
"There's been no communication from DETR, from PUA, from anybody," another said.
Those were just a fraction of the countless viewers who found themselves suddenly unemployed and in need of answers during the pandemic, locals who looked to me for a lifeline after getting nothing but dead air from DETR.
Many, including then-Governor Steve Sisolak, said the agency was unprepared for the unprecedented demand.
"The state did not invest in the infrastructure that we probably should have," Sisolak recently said.
Sisolak appointed Barbara Buckley, a former state lawmaker and Executive Director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, to lead a strike force to come up with recommendations to improve DETR's response.
"What bothered me the most was that there was never a sense of urgency," Buckley told me.
"At a time that's more urgent for the people who need it than they've ever experience in their lifetime," I replied.
"At the most urgent time in our state's history, there wasn't a sense of urgency," Buckley said.
According to a 2021 strike force report, between March and December 2020, 1.5 million initial unemployment claims had been filed and the agency still hasn't fully recovered.
You can read the full 2021 strike force report below.
"If you think it's fixed, it's not," I said.
"Oh no. It is definitely not fixed. What we did was break the log jams on the complaints being filed," Buckley said. "When we stepped in, fraudsters, criminals — mostly out of the country — began filing false claims under real people's names. And so, then the system was paralyzed."
Buckley laid out several reasons for the prolific fraud, including a new and untested program for gig workers and the fact that DETR didn't have a database of businesses operating in Nevada. Mostly, she said, because we have no state income tax.
"What I found is that, in the beginning, they had no idea that the fraudulent applications were being filed so they just paid everybody," Buckley said. "And then, they finally figured it out so they stopped paying everybody. So you had the fraudsters paid and real Nevadans being hurt."
Her task force helped stem the tsunami of fraud.
"But again, we have to make as much progress stopping fraud as we do in helping people entitled to the insurance. And when I see the backlog information, the backlog did not go down as fast as it should have and it's still there."
Since the pandemic, DETR has upgraded its cyber security and is in the process of improving computer and phone systems.
"With the NUI (new unemployment insurance) system rolling out in summer, it's going to probably cut down a lot of those phone calls coming in because a lot of those things, then, will be automated," DETR Director Christopher Sewell told Nevada lawmakers at a hearing last month. "Because this current system, UINV, is an extremely old system and it's clunky. It's not user-friendly. It's probably one of the worst UI systems I've seen."
According to the governor's office, phase one went online in February 2024 and was on time and on budget with no issues. Phase two, which is what is being rolled out this summer, is also on time and on budget.
Sewell also said DETR has hired more staff.
"When I took over, our vacancy rate was over 30%, close to about 35% for our employee FTE. We're down at 8%."
However, Buckley says there's still room for change in the agency's culture.
"The thing that, also, I don't think has been fixed is there are a large number of folks still there who approach claims from a perspective of 'how can we deny this?'"
13 Investigates continues to hear from locals who say they haven't received the money they applied for.
Buckley says some who make honest mistakes are seeing their benefits withheld.
"You made a lot of suggestions where you were on the strike force on how to fix things. What still needs to be fixed? How do we get to a good place five years later," I asked.
"Yeah. So to me, it all starts at the top. You need to have a culture of saying, a culture of yes," Buckley explained. "If you meet the eligibility guidelines, yes. We are going to help you and to make it as easy as possible to do that."
We asked DETR Director Christopher Sewell for an on-camera interview for this story but DETR said he was busy at the legislature monitoring bills.
We also asked to date, how much DETR has paid out in fraudulent pandemic payments and of that, how much has been recovered. We're still waiting on a response.
We also reached out to Governor Joe Lombardo's office, who provided the following statement.
"When I took office, fixing DETR was a top priority of my administration, and I immediately appointed a new director. Over the past two years, we cleared the pandemic backlog, reduced the DETR vacancy rate to under 10%, and have modernized internal DETR processes and systems. DETR is more prepared than ever to serve Nevadans efficiently and effectively."
A spokesperson also told us that all DETR backlogs are completed and appeals are now at the Department of Labor standard.
The Bureau of Disability Adjudication is now processing over 24,000 cases per yer, which the governor's office says is up from 10,000 cases per year and is now nationally recognized.
They add that since the pandemic began, DETR has consolidated EmployNV hubs with the two local workforce boards statewide under one name to serve job seekers and businesses. This includes opening two new hubs in North Las Vegas and one new hub in Lyon County, both areas with higher unemployment, for a total of 46 hubs statewide.
In addition to that, the governor's office says DETR has increased funding for workforce programs utilizing all funding resources available to help with workforce training programs like teacher stipends, Hope For Prisoners, and numerous training programs in partnership with NSHE and other workforce partners.