Montana Offers UI and DUA Help to Hurricane Katrina's Unemployed

September 8, 2005

Media Contacts:
Michelle Robinson, Communications Director
Department of Labor and Industry
Commissioner's Office

TELEPHONE: (406)444-1520
FAX: (406)444-1394
e-mail: mirobinson@mt.gov

P.O. BOX 1728
HELENA, MT
59624-1728

EMBARGOED until FRIDAY, 9/9/05

1 (800) 237-5079

HELENA--- Montana Department of Labor and Industry's Unemployment Insurance Division today activates 35 dedicated phone lines for Katrina's unemployed.

Montana's UI division contacted the regional office in Dallas and offered immediate assistance. State employees worked 'round the clock coordinating this effort with Texas Workforce Commission in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Labor.

"The network that exists nationally in UI is tremendous," said DLI Commissioner Keith Kelly. "Montana's UI team confirms the fabric of what Montana is made of."

Current estimates indicate that approximately 400,000 people in Louisiana are out of work due to the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Unemployment Insurance processing centers are overloaded and looking to other states for assistance.

"The goal is to help the victims of the hurricane and at the same time provide quality service to our Montana customers," said UI Administrator Roy Mulvaney. "Helping to get money back in the hands of the unemployed who need it most is an urgent mission for UI."

Phone lines for Louisiana callers opened today from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for the hurricane victims and will remain open until the affected states can handle the workload themselves. Employees from the Billings and Helena Claims Processing Center and the Walt Sullivan Building will receive calls from a Louisiana established toll free number and file UI and Disaster Unemployment Assistance claim information into Louisiana's internet claims site.

Montana claimants attempting to file during these hours will receive a message that UI is currently assisting hurricane victims and be redirected to Montana's Internet site of www.UI4U.mt.gov. If Internet processing is not an option, callers will be asked to call back between the hours of 11:30-4:30.