Oregon unemployment benefits system begins planned outage ahead of Monday launch of Frances Online
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Oregon Employment Department is five days away from launching a brand new, easy-to-use online system for Unemployment Insurance benefits. UI benefits go live through Frances Online on Monday, March 4, at 8 a.m., the agency said Wednesday.
Frances Online offers features that will provide a better customer service experience for UI claimants. It’s also mobile-friendly. Claimants will be able to do a lot more things online through self-serve features, instead of waiting for a letter in the mail or calling the UI Contact Center.
“With Frances Online, we’ll be able to serve Oregonians better, and get their benefits paid quicker,” said David Gerstenfeld, director of OED. “We recognize that change can be challenging, but once we’re up and running, we believe claimants will appreciate all the changes that are coming.”
Video of OED’s media briefing on Feb. 28 is available at: https://youtu.be/uaQMRkNFP34.
WHAT TO EXPECT DURING THE PLANNED SERVICE OUTAGE
The system migration begins tonight. Some services went offline last night, the Contact Center was closed today. And beginning at 5 p.m. tonight, all UI systems, phone lines and customer service options are temporarily unavailable through Monday, March 4, at 8 a.m. OED teams are working diligently to ensure a smooth transition and to restore all services on March 4.
During the planned service outage, UI customers cannot: File an initial claim, file a weekly claim, restart a claim, check the status of a claim, or make changes to claim information; They also will not be able to make payments; Respond to requests for additional information; or complete identity verification.
This system outage will allow OED to migrate the data from the old UI systems to Frances Online. Current UI customers who have ongoing claims will find that their information will be present in Frances Online when they create an account on or after March 4.
“Frances Online is already serving employers and Paid Leave claimants,” said Lindsi Leahy, director of the Unemployment Insurance Division at OED. “We’re working diligently to ensure that the transition of UI benefits to this new system will be as seamless as possible for claimants.”
Visit unemployment.oregon.gov/frances to learn about the new system, customer service impacts, new self-serve features, and what to expect on March 4.
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The Oregon Employment Department (OED) is an equal opportunity agency. OED provides free help so you can use our services. Some examples are sign language and spoken-language interpreters, written materials in other languages, large print, audio, and other formats. To get help, please call 503-947-1444. TTY users call 711. You can also send an email to communications@employ.oregon.gov.
