Unemployment office launches new call center to speed up processing of claims

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state’s unemployment office launched a phone bank Monday in an effort to speed up help for those who have already filed a claim.

The new Kakaako location is staffed with workers who can help those who want to track a current case. Many people have called wondering why they didn’t receive an email confirmation.

The call center’s number is (833) 901-2275.

A second call center will help those needing to reset passwords if they filed unemployment before and already have an account. That number is (808) 762-5751.

There is a third phone bank to assist newly out-of-work residents who do not have access to the online forms. To reach that phone bank, call (808) 762-5752.

All of these separate centers are necessary, according to Scott Murakami, director of the state Labor and Industrial Relations office.

“This will streamline things and help get the claims processed faster," he said.

Murakami has now added 76 workers to his staff in the last month to deal with the 187,461 new unemployment claims filed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.