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December 26, 2006

Peak season for state unemployment checks

PROVIDENCE -- Waiting for a state unemployment check? No worries -- it should be in the mail.

While dozens of unemployment checks were lost in the mail last holiday season, state officials say that those depending on unemployment insurance this Christmas shouldn't expect any major delays.

"This is our peak season; we're filing a high volume of claims," Raymond Filippone, the assistant director of income support for the Department of Labor and Training, said today. "But the checks went out fine."

State officials waited seven hours longer than usual to print checks on the Friday before Christmas to accommodate as many people as possible, Filippone said.

Still, some people may get their check a day later than expected because Christmas fell on a Monday -- there was no mail service yesterday and the state didn't print any checks that day.

Filippone estimated that the state will distribute 14,000 checks this week, compared to around 11,000 during non-holiday periods.

Why the increase?

Many companies lay off seasonal workers after Christmas, while other businesses close to conduct inventories, Filippone said. And there are many temporary layoffs for school-related jobs like crossing guards and bus drivers.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 1:58 PM | Permalink

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