“When the day care where my wife works closed in the second week of March, I helped her file for unemployment online.

“Aside from all of the usual information she [also] shared her individual taxpayer identification number, but they never asked for her green card number – she is a green card holder.

“Five weeks later, we got a letter saying she had been denied since she did not provide her green card number …

“It’s amazing. UIA makes you wait weeks to get benefits but, all the while, you have bills to pay.

“They just say, ‘Well, you’ll get the backpay when you get it.’ But that’s not an excuse to give the bank or the apartment complex.

“Luckily, I am an ‘essential’ worker, so we were scraping by.

“But calling the UIA constantly only to get a message to call back later and not find any help on the website – the state of Michigan was not prepared in any way for so many people to be out of work.

“I would ask Governor Whitmer and the legislature to stop talking about fixing things and actually do them.”

Kris Lather
Kalamazoo, Michigan