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* As you may be aware, Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) has been pushing to open up IDES offices. SJ-R…
In a statement to The State Journal-Register on Thursday, IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco said physical safety at unemployment and department offices was a serious concern.
“A local office was vandalized and had a large piece of equipment thrown through the office window while another local office experienced a bomb threat; police reports were filed in both incidents. While there have been other physical incidents of this nature, staff routinely experience verbal threats from individuals via the phone and through email. Collectively, this remains a concern, and is being considered as the Department looks for a way to move forward with a phased reopening,” Cisco said.
Cisco said the department remains closed because of both the pandemic and threats to safety.
“Really that’s a bunch of nonsense. They’ve not shared any additional information other than a case of some graffiti at a Springfield office,” Sosnowski said.
* I asked the administration if Rep. Sosnowski had asked for a security briefing…
He did not. He sent a letter saying open the offices. But has not asked for a meeting or to be briefed on security threats
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:18 am
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So many state offices were closed for months at a time, during the pandemic, with not much impact to daily life. Makes me think there is room for more budget cuts.
And IDES certainly didn’t cover itself in glory with the debacle of handling the fraudulent claims being made. For nearly 5 months, the only way to report IDES fraud was via 1970’s era technology (no online, fax or email ability to send in fraud notices to the department)
Comment by Perspective Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:27 am
===So many state offices were closed for months at a time, during the pandemic, with not much impact to daily life. ===
The administration has made a very sincere effort to have every person that could work remotely do so. If you’re just talking about getting rid of the buildings there might be a few of them, but I’m not sure the public really has an appreciation of the thousands of public employees working from home using their personal computers and personal internet connections to perform state business via VPN.
Including the employees at IDES. It’s really weird that you’re connecting COBOL based software to the idea that IDES employees should have their safety discounted.
Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:38 am
Sosnowski doesn’t want facts to spoil his narrative.
Comment by Norseman Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:41 am
@Perspective: So many State offices were closed…*to the public*; state workers were still working, either in those “closed” office buildings or remotely. Hope that clears it up.
Comment by Yiddishcowboy Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:41 am
==So many state offices were closed for months at a time, during the pandemic, with not much impact to daily life. Makes me think there is room for more budget cuts.==
Or more opportunities for remote work. In a cash-strapped state, a more liberal WFH policy seems like a pretty cost-effective employee benefit.
Comment by City Zen Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:43 am
They need to open the offices ASAP. The current situation is a disaster. I know people that have been waiting since December for their claims to be paid, and the only way to speak to a person with IDES is to call the hotline and hope for a callback within a week or two.
If the offices were open, at least you could stand in a line and speak to a human that works for IDES. The hotline is staffed by an array of truly clueless contractors whose understanding of the IDES system is abysmal. Conflicting information and false hope is the norm.
This isn’t rocket science, people. Banks have security, the Capitol has security, SOS has security, IDES can have security. It’s just atrocious to put unemployed people in this crisis at the mercy of a clueless call center.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:43 am
Nothing is preventing IDES from providing “security briefing” to the general public, which would undercut the state senator’s ability to criticize them for remaining closed.
Comment by Captain Obvious Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:45 am
===Nothing is preventing===
Yeah?
Ongoing investigations maybe?
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:45 am
===This isn’t rocket science===
It shouldn’t be but have you ever tried getting a new security detail approved for a state office? The state will be fully reopened before the request ever makes its way through the mountains of red tape. I would also like to remind legislators that state employees are constituents too. Their concerns shouldn’t be any less important.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:53 am
“state workers were still working”
Riiiiiight. Managers in one state agency were specifically forbidden from assigning online training for at-home workers.
Comment by Perspective Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:54 am
=== Managers in one state agency were===
Which agency?
Thanks.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 21, 21 @ 10:55 am
=I know people that have been waiting since December for their claims to be paid,=
Is that the same as “people tell me…”?
Asking for a friend.
====This isn’t rocket science====
LOL. Do tell, be specific.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, May 21, 21 @ 11:29 am
“Which agency?”
It too politically toxic to throw the managers under the bus. Sorry.
Comment by Perspective Friday, May 21, 21 @ 11:49 am
=== It too politically toxic to throw the managers under the bus. Sorry.===
LOL, yeah, like Rauner… agencies that had no computers… it’s too toxic to say which agencies.
Good times.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:01 pm
==Is that the same as “people tell me…”? Asking for a friend.==
Me. I’ve been waiting since December. And a close friend of mine has been waiting a shorter time, but the dysfunction is the same.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:06 pm
Mangers being told they can’t require WFH state employees to take online training is too specific to be made up out of whole cloth. The agency exists, the manager exists and the directive occurred.
I wonder if it occurred in any other agencies?
Comment by Perspective Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:12 pm
=== The agency exists, the manager exists and the directive occurred.===
Rauner *swore as governor* an agency existed that had no computers. Still waiting on that to pan out.
===I wonder if it occurred in any other agencies?===
I mean… you won’t say what agency, now you want to wonder aloud about *other* agencies…
Is this a gag?
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:15 pm
“Is this a gag?”
Yes, I simply conjured up a really random falsehood and posted it here. /s/
Not sure what Rauner has to do with this, as I’m not running for Governor. There are enough state agency folks that spend their working hours on here. Maybe they can offer some input…truthful input.
Comment by Persepctive Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:20 pm
===Not sure what Rauner has to do with this, as I’m not running for Governor.===
It’s a gag Rauner had. He conjured up some mythical agency, to this day no one knows, that allegedly had no computers.
Kinda like your mythical agency.
===There are enough state agency folks that spend their working hours on here. Maybe they can offer some input…truthful input.===
Why should they give input, as you seemingly refuse to.
Maybe the agency your talking about is the one with no computers…
Kinda feeds perfectly into… “to the post”,
Deciding you want action as a legislator, that’s not a new phenomenon, but neither is being a legislator who wants action but really hasn’t done any more work to… what exactly is needed in all that call to action.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 21, 21 @ 12:25 pm
I worked at IDES in the early 2000s. There were serious security concerns that I’m sure the Covid pandemic makes worse. The Department will deny unemployment benefits if people are fired for cause, for instance bad behavior resulting from serious substance abuse and anger management issues. After being denied, we had cases of people pulling guns on workers in the office, threatening to blow up the place and then planting a fake bomb outside the front door, and threatening people on the phone and then shooting their gun off to show they were serious. We took steps to mitigate the risks, but it is important to understand the threats are real.
Comment by Don Davis Friday, May 21, 21 @ 1:59 pm
===I wonder if it occurred in any other agencies?=== Mine heartily encouraged online training.
Comment by Skeptic Friday, May 21, 21 @ 2:25 pm
==I worked at IDES in the early 2000s. There were serious security concerns that I’m sure the Covid pandemic makes worse.==
This is another thing I don’t understand. If security risks are normal, why doesn’t IDES have security in place already? It just seems a dereliction of duty during a crisis for the Administration to throw up its hands and say “well, it’s hard, unemployed people just have to suffer.”
(And this isn’t partisan criticism BTW, I’m a huge Pritzker supporter generally)
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Friday, May 21, 21 @ 2:50 pm
There has to be a balance. We cannot dismiss security concerns but we cannot dismiss the needs of people going broke because they don’t get their unemployment. Figure out the security situation. You’ve had over a year to think it through, IDES. Make a plan.
Comment by Advocate Friday, May 21, 21 @ 5:10 pm