LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Like many other Nevadans, Mike Goldberg spent much of last night and this morning clicking refresh, hoping to see his weekly unemployment benefits land in his bank account.
"Not getting it at night and not being able to sleep and still not getting it in the morning is pretty nerve-racking when you don't know where you can get the next gallon of milk from for your child," said Goldberg.
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Goldberg has been unemployed since mid-May when his role as an assistant banquet manager was eliminated at Green Valley Ranch. Since then, unemployment has been his lifeline.
"It counts as gas money, bus fare, food, essentials, and all that," he said, of his weekly benefits.
DETR Director Elisa Cafferata said this issue of delayed payments was caused by an imbalance in the system, one that has to be found and addressed before payments can be released. She apologized for the delay Tuesday.
"I know if you rely on that money, you expect to see it and we expect to pay it. We are doing everything we can to make all those payments on time. We are just dealing with a system where every time we add something new to the mix, some new program we have to go back and make certain corrections and so it's been very challenging in our systems," Cafferata said.
But for Goldberg and many others, watching Nevada's unemployment agency deal with issue after issue has been challenging too and made an already difficult year worse.
"It's meant to be a bridge or a crutch and during a pandemic, it should be a much stronger bridge or a stronger crutch to get us from point A to point B to get us from unemployed back to employed again. It's very frustrating," he said.
DETR expects to have this issue resolved and people paid within 48 hours. They say if you were one of the people who did not receive a payment, you don't have to do anything.
