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WKSU, our public radio partners in Ohio and across the region and NPR are all continuing to work on stories on the latest developments with the coronavirus and COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed.

Why Many Ohioans Are Not Getting Federal Unemployment Dollars Yet

Kim Henderson, Ohio Dept of Job and Family Services Director
Jo Ingles
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Kim Henderson, Ohio Dept of Job and Family Services Director

The federal government has authorized $300 weekly unemployment bonus checks, but many Ohioans say they are not getting them yet. 

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Kim Henderson says people who have been getting unemployment benefits are seeing the $300 weekly bonuses. But she says it’s more difficult for those whose benefits had expired when the federal money was authorized. 

“It is kind of not as easy as it sounds," Henderson says.

Henderson says there are fraud controls put on this new money. Fraud has been a big problem for the agency. Thousands of Ohioans, including Ohio’s governor and lieutenant governor, say they have been targets of fraudulent jobless claims. 

There has been a lot of criticism heaped upon the agency in recent months. In fact, Henderson says some are blaming it for the death of an unemployed man who recently committed suicide. Henderson expressed her sympathy to the family but says her team has been working day and night for the past ten months to meet the needs brought on by this pandemic.

Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles
Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.