CLARKSBURG, Md. — Frustration is boiling over for people in Maryland looking for unemployment relief. More than 100,000 people filed jobless claims just in the past three weeks in the state, according to the Maryland Department of Labor.
The reviews are in, and Marylanders are already fed up with the new unemployment website, the 'BEACON One Stop' application, rolled out this past Friday.
Tammy Sutton, on furlough from her job at Potomac Pedals and Plants in Potomac, Maryland, told WUSA9 anchor Adam Longo she spent eight hours Friday trying to access the system on Friday.
Sutton has been on furlough since March 18, the day after Gov. Larry Hogan initiated the first aspect of his stay-at-home order.
She has been successfully filing her weekly unemployment claims since then, but with the launch of the new system, she has been unable to receive relief funds from the state.
"Rent is due this Friday, and I’m a little panicky now," Sutton said. "It's been tough. I had to call my parents and ask them for help."
"The Maryland Department of Labor's Division of Unemployment Insurance sincerely apologizes for the difficulties surrounding applications for unemployment insurance benefits," Maryland Secretary of Labor Tiffany Robinson said in a statement. "The launch of the site has clearly fallen short. We share your frustration."
Important new changes have been made in an attempt to reduce site traffic and make the site more accessible to Marylanders.
Anyone successfully logging on to the site enters a virtual waiting room, where they will be able to see how many people are ahead of them in the cue and the anticipated time they will be able to enter their claim information.
Marylanders filing weekly claims will only be able to access the site Sunday and Monday. New claims can be completed Tuesday through Saturday. The BEACON site will be down for maintenance between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. every day. Sutton reported logging on successfully at 3 a.m. Tuesday.
So far, 342,000 people in Maryland and nearly 1 million people in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia have filed for unemployment through the first five weeks of the stay at home orders from the governors and Mayor Muriel Bowser.