Good afternoon staff,
As the State of Michigan moves to the next phase of reopening for business, please remember to continue to take all reasonable precautions to protect yourselves, your loved ones, and your neighbors.
Update for this week:
- Nearly 58,000 employees and almost 1,100 employers are participating in Work Share.
- In light of the national fraud activity that is preventing legitimate claimants from getting their benefits, we’ve developed a new tool to expedite ID verification. Claimants with ID verification issues will be able to click a link in MiWAM and input their Letter ID number from their 6347. The option to send a MiWAM message and upload documents is also available.
- UIA has contracted with a nationally recognized firm tasked with providing the agency additional information security with a focus on innovative criminal fraud techniques. The firm will also develop a thorough fraudulent claims analysis.
- You all may have seen a message from LEO Chief Deputy Director Susan Corbin last week informing you that LEO is working to create and review plans for eventually returning employees back to the workplace safely. LEO is committed to phased return of employees to the workplace. However, for the foreseeable future, employees who can perform their job duties through telework will continue to do so. Kimberly Berry is leading the UIA team working with LEO, Office of State Employer and other partners. We will keep you updated as plans continue to develop.
The positive comments continue to come in. Here are a few recent kudos we received:
. . . This is a challenging time for everyone, and it was so refreshing to speak to Ronisha (Bryant), as she is kind and very knowledgeable about the MI Work Share program. She made me feel like she truly cared about my needs and wanted to help me understand things, she didn’t rush me off the phone or act like I was annoying her, as I have experienced with other calls. She HELPED me and I am so appreciative of it. She is a perfect example of what customer service should be – kind, polite, informative, welcoming, friendly, helpful, smart, passionate (yes, all of this came through my call with her). I appreciate her help and I wanted to make you aware of it. . . I know you’ve probably been overwhelmed the last few weeks and just want to say, thank you for all that you do. I hope you get a well needed break!
Casey
Dear Rep. Pagan,
I received a telephone call today from a UIA customer service representative, Mary S of Saginaw. Mary spent about 20 minutes on the call, working through my concerns and backdating/certifying the two weeks of benefits that I was most concerned with. She explained the department is obviously behind schedule, but UIA staff are working hard on case such as mine which require further analysis/verification due to the nature of my unemployment. I understand it could be several weeks until I begin receiving benefits, but without her efforts, I'd be unaware of what's happening.
I appreciate the effort she went through, the professionalism she displayed, and want to make sure she receives the praise she deserves, as I'm sure so many other dedicated State of Michigan employees and elected leaders deserve. . .
--KP
To whom it may concern:
Amid all the stress we all are dealing with, my wife and I want to express appreciation for the kind and professional assistance we were able to receive over the telephone on May 8 by Mr. Kitoko and on May 13 by Miss Morgan and by Margo. More than one session was required to assist me.
Kitoko was reassuring and kind about the anxiety I was feeling over the nonmonetary issue I was facing and the reversal of payment my wife was facing. He dealt with my wife's issue promptly and started on my issue to the extent he could. My wife's issue was fully resolved and we wanted his efficiency to be acknowledged.
My issue required a manager's assistance . . . after which . . . my case was escalated to Margo, who was extremely helpful and made all the necessary edits in the system. My call with her ended after 6:30 PM. I appreciate being attended to - even after-hours.
Since we personally have never ever had any need for this kind of assistance until now, we were unfamiliar with the system to say the least. On top of that, the system had to be modified on your end to accommodate the COVID Pandemic. So we can't even imagine the frustrations you've had to deal with from multiple directions.
Please accept our thanks once again
Kennedy and Robyna S.
Thanks for all you do,
Steve
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