Federal workers looking to make ends meet by filing for unemployment, hit roadblocks
Frank Glaz says that as soon as the shutdown happened, he applied for unemployment.
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"Because you’re on furlough, your access to this site has been revoked" was the message Frank Glaz got when trying to access employment documents.
Glaz has been a part-time field representative for the United States Census Bureau for over six years and works year-round conducting surveys. But for the past few weeks, Glaz has been spinning his wheels trying to apply for unemployment. But that denied access to the Electronic Official Personnel folder meant Glaz was at a standstill.
Glaz says that as soon as the shutdown happened, he applied for unemployment. When he finally heard back, he was told he needed to supply a Standard Form 50 to the state Department of Labor because he lives in New Jersey, and the regional office for the U.S. Census Bureau is headquartered in New York.
"We need this form that shows us what we call your duty station, so I go into the website and spin and spin and spin and spin and spin," Glaz said.
The form is accessible online via the U.S. General Services Administration website. However, Glaz must access a pre-generated version with his personal information via EOPF, which right now is down because of the shutdown.
"I sent them a copy of this letter stating that we do not have access to this site. I thought that was going to clear up the situation, no it does not clear up the situation," Glaz said.
Glaz is just one of nearly 23,000 federal employees who are affected by the shutdown, and he says part-time workers likely won’t see retro pay. Glaz has already dipped into his retirement savings and hopes the shutdown ends soon or that the Department of Labor can make an exception for him and others like him.
"We’re not going to be able to give you this form. What do you want to do? Make a decision," Glaz said.
