BURLINGTON, Wis. — John Tymus filed for unemployment benefits after losing his job as a substitute teacher, but a glitch in Wisconsin's job center portal left him unable to access the system for days.
Tymus said he spent hours trying to submit his information, only to be met with an error notification each time he logged in.
"I was getting pretty frustrated. I was trying to submit probably for like a couple hours, like over, and over, and over again, and trying to figure out what am I doing wrong," he explained.
Despite repeated attempts, the portal showed checkmarks indicating he had completed each step correctly.
Tymus said he visited the local Racine unemployment office and called the state for answers, but neither could offer a resolution.
"They confirmed everything I was doing was correct, and then they just said it's just a glitch and they made it sound like it's like a system-wide glitch that has been occurring in the last couple weeks," Tymus added.
Watch: Wisconsinites say unemployment portal glitch leaves some blocked from receiving benefits
TMJ4 News reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Monday morning. While with Tymus, we received a call back from a DWD spokesperson, who confirmed there was an error impacting the job center's website the previous week that was resolved Friday.
However, Tymus was still blocked from entering the portal on Monday. After being informed of his situation, the spokesperson took down his information to get the issue resolved.
About an hour after the interview, Tymus said someone from DWD called him and resolved the problem, although he said he still won't receive payments for up to 21 days.
A spokesperson for the department also told TMJ4 there was an additional error with information entered that was causing Tymus issues.
"It helps that they're acknowledging that it's not anything that I'm doing on my end, and the fact that you guys are shedding light on this hopefully it speeds up the process, and they have some follow-through, and it's resolved for everyone that's being affected by this."
Tymus said the delay, while frustrating, underscores how critical reliable access to benefits is for people out of work.
"Unemployment isn't ideal for anybody, but it's important that you can count on the benefits to come in when they're supposed to come in."
Here's more information from DWD if you're looking to file for unemployment benefits:
To be eligible to receive unemployment benefits in Wisconsin, an individual must register with the Job Center of Wisconsin within 14 days of the date they complete their initial claim application. More information about this requirement can be found online in
Additionally, there is a waiting week to receive unemployment benefits. For every new benefit year, no benefits are payable the first week an individual would otherwise be eligible for benefits, and they will receive notice of which week serves as their waiting week.
It’s important to note that all individuals filing for unemployment must complete four work search actions during the week they would like to claim benefits, including during the initial 14-day window to register with the Job Center of Wisconsin and during the waiting week. More information about work search requirements can be found in the UI Claimant Handbook.
For help filing an unemployment claim, individuals should contact the UI Help Center at (414) 435-7069 or toll-free at (844) 910-3661. We have teams available to walk Wisconsinites through any issues they may encounter and answer questions about applying for UI benefits.
And then lastly, DWD maintains an unemployment insurance statistics dashboard on its website, which displays initial and weekly claims and is updated weekly on Thursdays.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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