KENTUCKY CAREER CENTER JOBSIGHT ANNOUNCES NEW TOLL-FREE HOTLINE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT, WORKFORCE SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN EASTERN KENTUCKY
If you’ve lost your job due to ongoing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of career centers throughout Eastern Kentucky have instituted a new regional, toll-free hotline to ensure issues with filing a claim for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits will be quickly addressed and eligible funds made available.
If you live within the 23-county Eastern Kentucky workforce area, you should now call, toll-free,
1-888-297-7054 for any and all UI questions and filing assistance, or workforce services and training questions.
Questions on UI or workforce services in Eastern Kentucky can be initiated by contacting local workforce professionals by phone—using the new toll-free number—as all in-person services at local Kentucky Career Center JobSight office locations in the region have been suspended until further notice upon state order. Workforce staff are now working remotely, so calls to individual, local workforce offices are not currently possible.
Starting immediately, Eastern Kentucky clients are asked to call the new, toll-free hotline to reach the Kentucky Career Center JobSight’s network of workforce professionals for assistance. Regular career and employment services also remain available, and you can enroll in those services via telephone Monday through Friday from 8 a.m-5 p.m. by calling the new hotline number, 1-888-297-7054, to connect with Kentucky Career Center JobSight’s Community Action partners listed below:
Bell-Whitley CAA (Bell County)
Big Sandy Area CAP (Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike counties)
Daniel Boone CAA (Clay and Jackson counties)
Gateway CA (Menifee and Morgan counties)
Harlan CAA (Harlan County)
KCEOC CAP (Knox County)
LKLP CAC (Knott, Leslie, Letcher, and Perry counties)
Middle Kentucky CAP (Breathitt, Lee, Owsley, and Wolfe counties)
Northeast Kentucky CAP (Carter, Elliott, and Lawrence counties)
Employers within the EKCEP service area requiring Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) services or assistance directly relating to issues with the COVID-19 pandemic can also contact staff members at the above agencies.
A number of changes have been made to Kentucky’s UI system in response to the ongoing crisis. Gov. Andy Beshear has waived the waiting period for unemployment benefits for eligible Kentuckians who lost their jobs due to issues arising from COVID-19. Additionally, UI eligibility was expanded to a number of occupations not normally eligible for UI, including the self-employed, independent contractors, freelance workers, and substitute teachers.
For all up-to-date information on UI updates, visit the kcc.ky.gov website.
EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services, administers the Hiring Our Miners Everyday (H.O.M.E.) program for dislocated coal miners and their spouses, and is the White House-designated lead organization for the federal TechHire designation for Eastern Kentucky. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.
