COVID case partially closes unemployment call center

An unemployment call center was partially closed on Thursday after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced.

The staffer worked in a ballroom of the Hawaii Convention Center call center on Oahu that serves general inquiries. Labor department officials worked with the state Department of Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in response.

“We have sent home 85 staff, initiated contact tracing, arranged for deep cleaning and are taking an abundance of caution per DOH and OSHA guidance in response to the situation,” department Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio said in a news release. “This is yet another reminder that we’re still in the midst of the pandemic, and we have to ensure the safety of our public servants who continue to provide critical services.”

The general call queue was unavailable on Thursday. Callers with inquiries about the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, employers and those reporting fraud were still able to call for assistance.

With the state observing Prince Kuhio Day today, the call center expected to resume normal operations on Monday, the department said.

The Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division has previously assessed the call center and found that the Unemployment Insurance Division already had preventative measures and procedures in place to respond to any pandemic-related workplace hazards, the labor department said.

For more information on recently revised federal guidance on COVID-19 policies in the workplace, visit www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ safework.

For more information about unemployment insurance and other COVID-related labor issues, visit labor.hawaii.gov/covid-19labor-faqs/.