WILKES-BARRE — Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker this week announced a new initiative that will both enhance customer service for Unemployment Compensation (UC) claimants.
Walker said the new service will also provide valuable work experience for about 40 people served through L&I’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), which supports Pennsylvanians with disabilities in their pursuit of meaningful employment and independence.
L&I has established a new call center (1-855-284-8545) for UC claimants to schedule in-person UC Connect appointments at PA CareerLink® locations and get assistance with routine questions, such as how to log in to the UC system, reset a PIN, or change contact information on file. The new call center will increase capacity within the UC system, giving claimants another place to go when they need help.
The center is staffed by OVR customers, who will gain necessary call center experience needed to later apply for UC intake interviewer positions. UC claimants can call the helpline Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
“This first-of-its-kind project is a win-win for Pennsylvania,” Walker said. “For OVR customers, this is valuable job experience that opens the door to a new career. For UC claimants, we’ll be answering their routine questions faster and freeing up capacity for UC intake interviewers to focus on their important work.”
One year after Gov. Josh Shapiro took office and promised to get the UC system back on track, Walker said L&I has made significant strides toward enhanced customer service. L&I distributed more than $1.7 billion in UC benefits in 2023 to about 326,000 Pennsylvanians — all of whom experienced the loss of a job or work hours through no fault of their own.
Thanks to a bipartisan 2023-24 budget investment that allowed more workers and resources to be dedicated to the UC system, L&I in 2024 will continue to improve customer service and make progress toward shorter timelines for the determination of new claims.
In January 2024, L&I received 62,784 claims and distributed UC benefits totaling $228,318,660 to 121,689 eligible claimants.
L&I reminds UC claimants of their responsibility to file weekly benefit certifications online or by using the Department’s touch tone telephone service, called PAT, at 888-255-4728 (en Español 877-888-8104).
Rapid Response Services are available for businesses and workers in the event of job dislocation caused by a natural disaster, economic transition, planned layoff or closure through the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). Rapid Response Services are available to employers and employees at no cost.
In January, L&I provided Rapid Response Services to 46 employers and 1,704 workers.
Rep. Meuser co-sponsors legislation
that fights to end childhood cancer
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, this week co-sponsored H.R.3433 — the Give Kids a Chance Act of 2023 — which would authorize certain targeted clinical trials involving safe and responsible drug combinations to treat pediatric cancer.
Currently, the majority of pediatric cancer trials focus on children with relapsed cancer. However, the FDA is limited to directing trials involving single drugs. Unfortunately, one-drug treatments rarely cure children with relapsed cancer due to the advanced nature of their condition.
While thousands of promising drug combination therapies are being explored and developed for adults, similar efforts for children are lacking. The Give Kids a Chance Act of 2023 empowers the FDA to direct companies to investigate combinations of safe cancer drugs and therapies in pediatric trials, bridging this critical gap and offering hope for improved treatments.
The bill significantly alters the requirements regarding molecularly targeted investigations for pediatric cancer, granting authorization for investigations involving new drugs used in conjunction with active ingredients already approved under two conditions: (1) if they are established as the standard of care for treating pediatric cancer, or (2) if they are approved for adult cancer treatment and target molecular aspects relevant to pediatric cancer.
“Children battling pediatric cancer are enduring the fight of their lives, and it’s imperative that Congress stands united in ensuring their recovery,” Meuser said. “Utilizing cutting-edge technologies and treatments, we must work to enact legislation aimed at combating this devastating disease and best treating children across the country. Our future generations deserve access to the latest breakthrough treatments, which will safeguard the lives of many children for generations to come. I urge my fellow colleagues to rally behind this bipartisan effort, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to ending childhood cancer.”
H.R. 3433 was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for further consideration.
Sen. Casey presses Wendy’s
on switch to surge pricing
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, this week sent a letter to the Wendy’s Company expressing concern about recent statements by the company that its restaurants will soon move to surge pricing for its menu items.
In the letter, Casey pressed the company for more information about why it plans to shift to surge pricing as it reports increased sales and profits and American families are struggling to deal with high costs on food and other everyday items.
“For families that frequent Wendy’s for a quick breakfast, lunch, or dinner, changing their schedules to get to Wendy’s when prices are low is not an option — working parents have to abide by work, school, and other limiting factors,” wrote Sen. Casey. “Executives’ choice to penalize hungry customers based on the time they can frequent their local Wendy’s is predatory and greedy — a Frosty costs Wendy’s the same regardless of the time it is ordered, and it should cost customers the same as well.”
Since November 2023, Casey has been investigating corporate price gouging and other actions by big corporations that have squeezed the budgets of American families and contributed to the increase in inflation. Recently, the New York Times featured Senator Casey’s investigation into shrinkflation.
In November, Chairman Casey released the first report in his greedflation series, “Greedflation: How Corporations Are Making Record Profits on the Backs of American Families,” detailing how big corporations are using inflation as cover to raise prices and rake in record profits at the expense of middle-class American families.
Sen. Casey, colleagues urge President Biden to
prioritize border security, fentanyl crackdown
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, this week led 16 of his Senate colleagues in a letter to President Joe Biden outlining the urgent need for robust funding for border security and drug interdiction efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl and similar illicit drugs being smuggled across the border through official ports of entry.
In fiscal year 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 240,000 pounds of drugs at the southwest land border, which included an estimated 1.1 billion doses of fentanyl — 44% of total drug seizures and 99% of fentanyl seizures occurred at the southwest land border.
“In order to meaningfully address the fentanyl crisis, law enforcement officers at our Nation’s borders must be equipped to combat the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs,” Casey and the senators wrote. “We must also support the law enforcement agencies that are investigating these smuggling and trafficking crimes and working to disrupt the transnational criminal networks that threaten our country and our communities.”
The effort comes on the heels of a push to include border security funding and immigration policy changes in a national security emergency spending bill — which Senate Republicans ultimately blocked after negotiating the deal.
The original bipartisan deal included funding to secure the southwest border by hiring additional border protection officers and providing additional border security inspection technology and equipment to detect and stop fentanyl flowing into the United States through official ports of entry along the southwest border — provisions also included in Senator Casey’s Stop Fentanyl at the Border Act.
Rep. Cabell, Sen. Culver to co-host
‘Coffee and Conversation’ March 12
In his ongoing effort to gain a better understanding of where his constituents stand on state and local issues, Rep. Mike Cabell, R-Butler Township, is co-hosting a “Coffee and Conversation” event with Sen. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-Northumberland, on Tuesday, March 12.
The free event will take place at the Butler Township Community Center, 411 West Butler Drive, Drums, from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.
“The purpose of this event is to provide constituents with an opportunity to voice their concerns and we will do the listening,” said Cabell. “We’re looking forward to hearing what local residents have to say about issues impacting their communities and legislation we are working on in Harrisburg.”
Reservations are required for this event and can be made by calling Cabell’s Sugarloaf office at 570-359-2138 by Friday, March 8.