CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte man, out of work in South Carolina, will now receive his long-awaited unemployment check. His case is a good lesson for anyone waiting on unemployment out of South Carolina.
"The takeaway is to just be patient," yoga instructor Michael Oller said.
Out of work since March, Oller misses teaching yoga to active adults living in a South Carolina community. For months, he's also missed the paycheck.
"This money would go a long way," he said. "Along with the other yoga instructors and fitness instructors, we've all expressed the same frustration in not receiving any funds."
State records show Oller filed for unemployment in May. As of earlier this week, he said the state owed him more than $5,000
"This is a significant amount of time that I've waited," Oller said.
Oller said when he tried to file his weekly certification early on, the website wouldn't let him. He says, tired of trying and unable to get in touch with an unemployment agent, he quit.
"There was a lot of trouble. The system kept timing out, buffering and timing out and then throwing you off," he said. "I just gave up."
After no weekly certifications, the system assumed he was back to work and essentially closed his claim. That is one of the lessons here. You have to keep trying to file your certifications every week, telling the state whether or not you worked. In South Carolina, the Department of Employment and Workforce said Sundays are the busiest certifying days, "so depending on website traffic it can cause slowdowns."
Even so, DEW said hundreds of thousands of others have been able to certify on a weekly basis. The state encourages people to use a laptop or computer to certify, rather than a phone.
Oller knows all that now. Less than a day after we reached out to the state on his behalf, an agent called and reactivated his claim.
"I have some great news," he said. "You really kind of moved the ball."
By the next day, he said the state confirmed thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits were headed his way, which he called "a great relief."
While Oller said he tried multiple times to call the state with no luck, a DEW spokesperson told us the agency's records show the number associated with his account never contacted the claims number.
DEW said that claims number, (866) 831-172, has the highest call volumes on Mondays and Tuesdays and lowest on Wednesdays through Saturdays. Of all days, Saturday is by far the lowest call volume day, according to DEW.