CRANSTON, R.I. – The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT) announced today that beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19, the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Call Center will have expanded hours to accommodate more claimants, and additional authorized staff will be dedicated to the UI Call Center in order to solve claimant issues in real time.
"At the beginning of the pandemic, we were laser-focused on processing claims quickly. As a result of that strategy, Rhode Island has consistently been one of the best states at taking in claims and getting them paid," said Scott Jensen, DLT Director. "Now that the surge of new claims has subsided, we can devote more staff to resolving claimant issues over the phone."
The new UI Call Center hours will be as follows: Monday through Thursday 8am – 6pm; Friday 9am – 6pm; and Saturday 8am – 11:30am. Claimants can reach the call center by calling 401-415-6772.
Claimants should still expect a wait time as UI specialists assist other claimants. We encourage claimants to try again if they are unable to get through the first time. Once connected with a UI specialist, in most cases, claimants will be able to have their issue quickly resolved while on the phone.
Before calling the DLT, UI claimants are urged to consult the Frequently Asked Questions page at https://dlt.ri.gov/faq/ to see if their question has already been answered. The UI Call Center should only be contacted for claim-specific issues that require DLT intervention; general, non-claim-specific questions can be directed to dlt.covid19@dlt.ri.gov.
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