Virginia Employment Commission [VEC]
reviews and complaints

I filed my claim on April 9, 2023 over the phone since I could not log on to the UIdirect website nor could I change my password (it appears I had 2 accounts). I mentioned this while on the phone, said that should be reported. Could not get further transaction until I received my pin in the mail.

I called on the 4/19 i now had my Pin and wanted to find out how to report my job search... I also reiterated the fact I could not log on to the site. Agent could not change my password, I requested they report the double accounts.

Called on April 27th, had they made a determination on my unemployment (I got laid off on the 7th of April). An email was being sent to expedite since it was over 21 days. Was told to use the phone system to file my weekly reporting.

On May 12th I went to the UIdirect website, both profiles were now gone so I created a new one. Called the the claim line to speak with someone as to when I might be receiving payment. They could provide no information, they did not have access.

I received an email on the May 15th telling me to create an account. I log on since I now had one. I see they have directed deposited (5 weeks ?). I figured they would not deposit later in the week. On Friday May 19th, I logged on to my checking account, emailed my bank asking if there had been any attempts to deposit to my account by VEC. Called the VEC, they have no way to check this. They would email someone. Did receive a response from my bank, no actions had been taken from VEC and I should contact them. At 7:49p I received an email "rejected bank account notification". I had earlier called and verified the routing number you cannot get the account info via the phone system. It was correct.

I called May 22nd after reinputting my bank information via the automated system since that option is not available on the website even though the email directed me to the website. Again, they cannot see this information. Received an email on the 24th "Information Change Notice" on my deposit information.

Went in to the Employment office on Radford. Thought maybe bringing in a cancelled check would help. No. Was told they could not see anything pertaining to my account and proceeded to send another expedited email. I am not sure if I heard the guy I spoke with correctly. I thought he indicated I was not the only one experiencing this problem.

To day no deposit has been made to my checking account. I called the complaint line, [protected] and it is the same queue as [protected]

My biggest fear here is identity theft. The people on the phone take all your information but cannot verify activity on your account.

The fact they have no one to follow up with.

Still no deposit

Lost my job Oct 2021; filed unemployment claim on Nov 8, 2021. A message on their home page said system under construction or to that effect. Numerous calls to the VEC contact center and attitude was deal with it, we're aware. Finally around Nov 14, 2021 I was able to get someone on the phone who set up my required information. Since their site wasnt working and "under construction, I was told to FAX my documentation to Richmond; received confirmation that all my pages went through. During the past year and a half my case was heard and unemployment denied. Since then I've been waiting for my Appeal to be heard. Now everytime i try to access my documents on their platform I get a message saying "WE CAN'T VERIFY YOUR IDENTITY OR THE DEVICE YOU ARE USING." I've been using this same laptop all along. The message also states to call the contact center for assistance. I've been told to "Use Google Chrome instead" and to "Type everything in all caps." I am running out of time and now need to update my address (as of Feb 1, 2023) and cannot do it on their platform. My Appeal Notice will be mailed but not forwarded to my new address. I cannot miss this opportunity to have my Appeal heard. Help!

I have recently logged into my account, on April 5th 2023 and noticed the last 4-6 weeks of “pending payments” have disappeared yet I have not received a deposit or any form of payment. In addition I have no email saying a payment or claim had been declined. Just want this resolved. If the is could be handled as quickly as possible, I would greatly appreciate it.

My name is Lisa Henderson 20 Belles Cove Drive Apt K Poquoson Va 23662. I have been calling every day to find out the status of my unemployment benefits and they continue to tell me it's in escalation. I was a victim of fraud. I got that straight then. I set up a routing number and account number and they sent my payments to a old VEC card I had in 2009 that had been expired. I have not worked since Feb 28,2023 and have nooney coming in and have lost my home and getting ready to lose my car. I can't pay auto insurance or my other bills because this matter has still not been taking care of . I haven't been paid and I 4 payments that have not been paid to me. Please help me I have nothing coming and have lost everything. I am unemployed because of lack of work my job contract ended.please help this is a emergency they will be coming to get my car next week if I can't make a payment asap. I can be reached at [protected]

I field for unemployment back in November 19th 2022 turned in all my documents of identification and I got told that my “payments were pending” so I waited a couple days. I called back and they told me that my application was denied due to me not turning in the correct form of identification witch was all faxed over prior to this…I have been waiting since November 19th 2022 to get answers on when my money will be transferred to my bank account

I am so tired of dealing with this that I can't even write in complete paragraphs any longer. Below is a recap and condensed version of the many failures by the VEC.

-June 2021-filed initial caim and received benefits within 2 weeks until I regained employment in Oct 2021

-Laid off in Dec and filed a new initial claim

-called 3 times a week and filed weekly claim via telephone. was told every time benefits were coming

-locked out of self-claimant portal. I set up the account and was able to log in for a short time, but mysteriously got locked out of the account one random day. NO ONE EVER GOT ME ACCESS AGAIN. To this day I have never been able to log into the account

-I was told to "just keep trying" and "try again later" for more than 36 months

-February 2022, I find out via VEC rep that my prior claim has been deemed an overpayment bc someone decided 9 months after the initial claim, and 6 months' worth of payments, that I did not qualify for benefits

-my consecutive claim is then left in the pending status for over a year while the VEC tries to un clusterf**k the mess they made

-I receive a letter demanding I repay $16k. I decline and file an appeal.

-I receive a letter in May of 2022 stating an appeal date will be set sometime in the future, I never receive an appeal date

-fast forward to feb 2023, I receive a letter stating my appeal is going to be dismissed if I do not respond in writing within 2 days of the date, I receive the letter.

-I send a message to the email address on the letter. It gets kicked back stating I missed the deadline.

-I get laid off again feb 28th

-I attempt to log in to css portal. No luck. I call the VEC number, and it just disconnects me.

My questions are:

-In what world would it be acceptable and deemed reasonable to send an individual weekly checks for 6+ months and then demand repayment of said funds because you failed to do your due diligence for my than half a year

-How is it the VEC can tell claimants their claim is being processed and funds are imminent even though a decision to deny claims, putting the consecutive case on hold, had been made more than a month prior

-Who is regulating this migration from Gov2Go to the new Claimant Self Serice portal and how are they not being held accountable for the deficiencies and failures of said system

-finally, where in the hell is the oversight committees on this thing. You drop the ball and expect me to pay $16k back for that failure, withhold claims for a valid case so long I finally find a job, lock me out of the system and taunt me with email messages about a new notification in a portal I can't access, hang up the phone on me when I call the 866 number, and now won't let me file a new claim based on your original error 20 months ago. All while I have lost my job and therefore scrambling to try and keep things from falling apart.

GOVENOR YOUNGKIN WHERE ARE YOU! You said you were going to fix this.

I’ve been unemployed since the beginning of January. Have filed every week I can. Some were unavailable for whatever reason. It’s mid march and I haven’t received a dime. What’s the deal?! I’m struggling tk get by, borrowing from friends when I need, but I was told by my company when I was laid off, unemployment would hit within a month. I’m

Genuinely confused. Spoke to another friend who was laid off in November and he hasn’t received anything. WHAT IS GOING ON

I have been waiting on my unemployment since October of 2022 all my weeks have done been put in ,of course it's still excepting more weeks because the wytheville pig [censored] lying police dept,is having vec illegally hold my claim, they told vec to not even tell me my payment method was not in for a total of 5 months while I'm steady calling weekly and the only reason that vec finally told me that was because of the fact I added in that's what the pigs was doing when I filed my taxes and did it with a check refund, it's ridiculous that vec is advertising all issues are resolved in 3 weeks about separations and no one has argued my separation yet I've been waiting 6 months for that resolution I'm going to file a law suit real soon against the wythe scum pigs and vec

I called the VEC on 12/16/22 to claim the week ending 12/17/22. It’s 03/01/23 and I still haven’t received payment. They also claim my annual claim ended on 12/17/22. I have all documentation from them showing my claim year ended on 02/04/23. This includes my monetary determination and PIN number page. They refuse to address the errors they’ve made and won’t work with me to help file claims for weeks in January 2023. My boss pays a fortune to the VEC on his employees behalf and is equally as disgusted as myself. The VECs actions are against the law and they have done their best to insulate themselves. It’s times for a complete overhaul of their management system.

I attempted to file a claim for benefits on Monday evening to find the system shut down for maintenance. I then tried Tuesday am to log in and was told I already had an account. Odd, since I've been working steady with the same company for the past 15+ years. I tried to choose forgot password and was told that I could not be verified. I called. Finally got a call back and was told that someone tried to claim benefits in 2020. After walking through applying for benefits with the representative she "cleared" my account so I could log in. I was able to create an account with a password. I've not been able to access the system since. I called today after being told by the system that my credentials were incorrect. I attempted to reset the password and was told the I could not be verified. I tried again by stating I didn't know my username or password. The system told me that I did not exist. I called the office again. I was told by the representative that the system is overloaded and this is going to continue to happen. I asked her to pull my information and provide to me since I have emails that may be time sensitive that I can't retrieve.. She asked for my PIN to which I replied I don't know because I can't access the system to get it. She told me she couldn't help without the PIN. I would either have to wait for the mail or go to my local office. I asked when the system would be "fixed" and she said she didn't know I would just have to keep trying and hope I could get in.

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! There are people in worse situations than myself and having these issues not to mention no funds. How are we to TRUST the help we need if the simplest of things can't be accomplished. System overload is not an acceptable answer to deliver to the public. Keep trying is not an acceptable answer to deliver either.

I was terminated in April, 2021. Because I did not live in Virginia for the full 18 mos I was given a choice between collecting between NC or VA. I chose VA. For some odd reason, my wages were not showing in VA, but were showing in NC. I followed all the requirements but never saw a payment from VA. I filed an appeal. I never heard a peep. No matter how many times I tried to contact anyone, I couldnt make any progress. No local offices were open, no calls would be returned, no hold would be picked up. Only until December 2022 when I filed a new claim did I learn from someone in VA that my 2021 appeal was removed from the docket! The files in VA indicated that I was sent a notice earlier in 2022 but I never received anything. Karen was the woman I spoke to, her number is VEC 4790. She told me that my appeal was determined to be a non appealable item. She said it was sent to "Monetary", I think she said in ~March 2022. I have no clue what that meant. She sent a note to her supervisor asking for attention, let me know several weeks later, ~Jan 2023 that still nothing was done. I believe she may have sent another note however I havent heard back again. I did call again but the person that I spoke to wasnt at all able to provide any help whatsoever.

What does Monetary do? Just let paperwork pile up on their desks/inbox/email? Does anyone work in that department? It will be almost 2 years!
Karen asked me to get proof from NC that my case was closed as it appeared that VA may have thought that I was being paid by NC and NC was clear that I filed the choice with VA. Unfortunately, the NC portal does not allow me to print to closed status of my account. I have made two requests to the legal department in NC for documentation but have yet to get that either.

I dont know what is left for me to do other than file this complaint. it looks like VA dropped the ball and I really need someone to pick it up. Can you help please?
Im just about to call the news...

I had to leave my job in 9/2021 due to my husband has Sickle Cell Anemia and was excused from taking the Covid shot, nor could I take it. There was an option with VEC that allowed this exemption. In 5/22 I was denied by VEC, but told per the VEC Rep that it's ok we will get you setup with PUA. Well that didn't work. So I put my husband of over 30 yrs life in jeprody. Take care of USA.

I have been waiting on my unemployment benefit payments since October 18, 2022. There has been one issue after another and after telling me that it has been escalated twice and was now on a deadling for the deputies to make a decision, I cannot get in contact with them. My car is about to be repossessed this weekend and I have a court date for eviction.

For an entity that is supposed to help people, you are ruining my life. Please find someone who can help me. I will be homeless shortly. If something doesn't happen and I lose everything I will bengoing to the newspaper.

Horrible! I usually don't file complaints but I am so over this organization! I have been unemployed since November 18, 2022. I was approved for benefits, received my letter in the mail, the PIN, signed up on workforce as instructed, and file my weekly claim as instructed... however, I have not received the first UI benefit payment. The online system is always down, the online automated system doesn't recognize my PIN, and it has taken me 3 weeks to finally get in touch with a live person, who said there is a problem with your claim, and a deputy needs to review it. She said she would escalate but could not tell me when, where, how, and if it would ever be reviewed and resolved. I have written two letters to the Governor with no response. What is going on at the VEC? Do you need qualified employees to fix this broken system? Hey, I am unemployed if you won't pay me my benefits how about offering a job to someone that can get the job done? This is ridiculous! I know I am not the only one that is having issues receiving their benefits. Please stop giving me the runaround, fix the system, and pay the UI benefits... what was the excuse the agent gave me.. "sorry our system gets overloaded at times and fails to work!" FIX it!

I work at the University of Mary Washington in dining. The students are out for Winter/ Christmas break. Human resources gave me a Temporary Layoff paper for 12/11/22-1/8/23 which I gave to the Unemployment Insurance.They said I qualified but have yet to get any money. The way the phone system is set up you can't talk to a person to get it straightened out. My holidays was not enjoyable because I did not have these funds that I qualified for. Many people are not getting their Unemployment money!

I have been approved for unemployment on 12/9 after the restaurant I managed shut down on 12/. However I have not received any payment because they are trying to verify my identity. I have went to the local office in NORTON, VA but was told no one at that office handles unemployment I have to use the call center. Which is a huge freaking joke, only to be told they don't know what is holding it up another part of the VEC handles identity and no I can't be given a number to them. I have faxed, emailed, snail mail all the documentation that they wanted me not once not twice but three times, and I am still getting the run around.

It was bad enough to be laid off two weeks before Christmas but even worse when I can not get the help that I need to pay bills, rent is up groceries and utilities as well so my savings is going fast just to survive while looking for a new full time job,

Someone needs to get off their butts and do something, at the very least have a person in the local office that can verify a persons identity. It shouldn't be more than taking in ID SSN birth certificate insurance card utility bills in the claimants name with the claimant in person in front of a living breathing human to tick the boxes that this the person they are saying it was.

Yeah I understand alot of fraud happened during covid, but that isn't my fault of the 100s of others that are waiting on their rightful benefits. It isn't the citizens fault that the organization is so disorganized and incompetent.

I went to my local unemployment office today in Alexandria. I am currently unemployed because I work in Landscaping and my job is seasonal; we don’t have work two months out of the year. I waited two hours and received my PIN number. I then called the VEC phone number as I was instructed to do. I entered the required information and was given a ridiculous “identity test”, during which I was asked questions about people who share my last name, but are not relatives of mine. I did not know the answers because I don’t know these people. I was asked two questions about addresses I had previously lived at; I believe I answered those questions correctly. I was asked about corporations I had previously been associated with. I failed the identity test. Despite being exactly who I claim to be, I failed an identity test which seems to have been thrown together by a computer program. Whoever is in charge needs to seriously overhaul this test. I’m going back to the local office tomorrow to wait probably another two hours to prove my identity the hard way. Thanks, VEC.

I filed for unemployment when Covid first put me out of work and the deputy never even contacted me to ask any information. Just denied the claim at appealed her decision and the second deputy agreed that I was approved for all but two weeks to draw unemployment for the past three years. I have been calling if not daily, then at least weekly to the Vec office trying to get my claim paid out and have yet to receive a payment. I filed a overpayment waiver application when I received two different letters from the overpayment office saying that I owed over $6000 to them in overpayment payments. This was not true. They received my overpayment waiver application back in March, but did not process it until I drop the appeals for both of the overpayment waiver letters, and it still didn’t help until I kept calling their office inquiring about the application. I never heard anything back so two weeks ago I called once again to inquire about the status of my application, and was informed that it had been completed several weeks ago and I was approved for a reduction of over $6000 which left a balance of $1111.84, I asked the lady why they could not take that payment out of the amount they owe me which is around $14,000. I have literally been fighting with him for three years now trying to get what is owed to me and rightfully mine.

I recently was laid off (Nov 11th), could not register online because I could not prove I'm me. Called and missed a verification question so I had to go to their office. Then I was verified. This took the first week. Attempted to file online, again they can't verify I'm me. Filed over the phone - what a colossal cluster that was. Took 3 times over the second week to manage it but filed for the first week I was out. Filed for the second week on the phone, it was marginally better since I was in the system. Decided to register online and it finally took! I saw how much I had, how much I had been allegedly paid (got the first payment this past Friday Dec 9th), decided yesterday to file online and somehow I'm not registered, the site cannot verify I'm me. Again. WTF, VEC? How was I registered online then suddenly un-registered?

I received a letter in the mail about overpayment, which I filled out the overpayment waiver for forgiveness but was then denied. So at this point I am just trying to pay back what was owed to get it over with but there's no payment options through the Claimant Self Service System portal online and when I try to call the VEC no one knows how I can pay. The letter states if I don't pay immediately then I will be denied future benefits and I don't want that to happen. I've followed all instructions correctly up to this point. It's sad that letters can be sent out to people about wanting the money, but I don't have any options to pay them back and even the employees can't give me clear instructions on what to do.

-November 2022