Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH PENNACCHIO
District 26 (Essex, Morris and Passaic)
Senator STEVEN V. OROHO
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Creates Unemployment Intake Accountability Pilot Program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act creating an Unemployment Intake Accountability Pilot Program.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development shall establish a three-year Unemployment Intake Accountability Pilot Program in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The objective of the pilot program shall be to study the effectiveness of recording customer service intake calls to the Division of Unemployment Insurance to facilitate the timely delivery of benefits. Under the pilot program, a representative sample of customer service intake calls shall be recorded for later analysis by the commissioner.
b. The commissioner may enter into contracts for the recording of customer service intake calls.
c. No later than one year following the effective date of this act, and each of the two years following, the commissioner shall survey the record of customer service intake calls to the Division of Unemployment Insurance. The survey shall obtain information including, but not limited to:
(1) the resolution rate of calls recorded by the pilot program;
(2) time elapsed between customer intake and the resolution of calls recorded by the pilot program; and
(3) any correlation between the time elapsed and the level of benefits received by the recipient.
The commissioner shall use the survey results to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of the customer service intake telephone system in facilitating the timely delivery of benefits. The commissioner shall forward the report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1).
2. This act shall take effect 90 days after the date of enactment, and shall expire upon the submission of the third annual report; except the commissioner may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a three-year Unemployment Intake Accountability Pilot Program in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The objective of the pilot program shall be to test the viability of recording customer service intake calls to the Division of Unemployment Insurance. Under the pilot program, a representative sample of customer service intake calls is to be recorded for later analysis by the commissioner. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development may enter into contracts to enact this pilot program.
No later than one year following the effective date of the bill, the commissioner is required to survey the record of customer service intake calls to the Division of Unemployment Insurance. The survey shall obtain information including, but not limited to: the resolution rate of calls recorded by the pilot program; time elapsed between customer intake and the resolution of calls recorded by the pilot program; and any correlation between the time elapsed and the level of benefits received by the recipient. The commissioner shall use the survey results to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of the customer service intake telephone system.
It is the view of the sponsor that this pilot program is necessary because of public dissatisfaction with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, including claimant reports of rudeness during telephone interactions with the department.