Workforce Solutions isn’t fair to New Mexico’s workers

AS AN educator and a Gulf War vet, I am very disappointed and disillusioned with the whole unemployment process in New Mexico.

Myself and other staff members at our small northwestern New Mexico school have been waiting for months for some kind of reply from the folks at “Workforce Solutions.”

I am 50 years old and have received unemployment benefits only once in my life, and this payout was for one week only. So when I submitted an unemployment claim in mid-July, I felt confident I would receive some assistance.

Now, nearly two months later, I have not received so much as a courtesy email informing me my supporting documents have even been reviewed. In my opinion, Workforce Solutions is flawed, unfair and inefficient.

I have cousins in southern New Mexico who have never held a job, nor contributed in any way to unemployment insurance. Yet, since the COVID-19 phenomena hit in March, these same cousins have received thousands under the guise of “self-employed.”

This is not fair, it’s prejudicial, and it’s wrong. If the rank-and-file employees in our state cannot receive assistance after contributing for years, what is Workforce Solutions there for?

STEVEN WILLIAMS

Grants