Oregon Employment Department officials warn that the planned transfer of unemployment insurance benefits to a new automated system will require a temporary halt to current online and phone services for a few days at the end of February and early March.
The transfer also will affect claims and other filings for Paid Leave Oregon, which began benefit payments under the new system last September.
In general, the department will be unable to accept claims after Feb. 27 or 28 — specific dates are below — until the new system goes online at 8 a.m. Monday, March 4.
The new system is known as Frances Online, named in honor of Frances Perkins, U.S. labor secretary from 1933 to 1945 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first woman to lead a Cabinet department. The Labor Department granted Oregon $89 million back in 2009 for a system upgrade, but after extended delays, the Legislature approved $106 million for the project in 2021. (Some of the extra money was to add Paid Leave Oregon, which lawmakers created in 2019.)