Virginia Employment Commission surpasses national average

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the Virginia Employment Commission has surpassed the national average in unemployment benefit check deliveries, making significant progress in government speed and efficiency. For the month of January 2024, 80.3% of all first payments were issued within the 14-to-21-day window, a core performance measure set by the U.S. Department of Labor.  

“As governor, I’ve always prioritized government efficiency and I’m pleased to see Virginia progress as a national model for timely benefit disbursement,” said Youngkin. “Virginians should be able to count on the VEC and our definitive VEC program improvements get us closer to fulfilling that objective.”  

“We are pleased to announce the substantial strides made by the Virginia Employment Commission in ensuring timely benefit disbursement to the citizens of Virginia,” said Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater. “Improving operations at VEC has been a day one priority for this Administration and these achievements directly impact the lives of Virginians relying on critical and timely temporary assistance until they become reemployed.” 

“Our responsibility and focus are on our customers, and these measures show just how seriously we take that responsibility,” said VEC Commissioner Demetrios Melis. “We will continue to identify the pain points our customers are experiencing and find innovative ways to resolve them. Our team remains steadfast in its pursuit of continuous improvements and refinements for our customers.” 

Additionally, VEC has exceeded expectations in timely decision-making, with 80.8% of all determinations issued within the timeframe specified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Decision timeliness measures the promptness of all rendered decisions, with the DOL mandating that 80% of decisions be issued within 21 days from the date of detection. 

VEC has been undergoing a major transformation. Initially, the agency’s primary objective was to resolve the backlog resulting from the pandemic. With the adjudications backlog successfully cleared in Q4 of 2023, VEC has been able to focus on enhancing customer service. Currently, the VEC’s progress in ensuring timely initial payments and decisions represent a substantial improvement compared to the corresponding period a year ago when only 28.7% of initial payments were issued promptly, and 14.7% of decisions were made within the required timeframe.

Moreover, VEC has recently enhanced its online services through a partnership with ID.me resulting in a record number of customers filing their claims online. In addition, the agency continues to be focused on refining and optimizing its online services for customer ease. 

The Virginia Employment Commission is an executive branch agency, under the Virginia Secretary of Labor, responsible for administering unemployment insurance benefits and connecting claimants to employment services through the newly created Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement known as “Virginia Works.”