The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Ann Perreira-Eustaquio answers questions about the backlog of unfulfilled unemployment claims; Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Stewart Yerton discusses potential Hawaiian Airlines' layoffs; the head of Local Five talks efforts to vaccinate hotel employees; and U.S. Postal Inspector Jeff Fitch dishes on recent postal scams and how to avoid becoming a victim.
Last week, unemployed workers and activists rallied in front of the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relation's building to improve the outdated unemployment system. Questions about claims and delays still abound for many. The Conversation's Savannah Harriman-Pote interviewed DLIR Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquio in search of answers.
Civil Beat business reporter Stewart Yerton says that Hawaiian Airlines will delay layoffs of more than eight hundred workers - but that measure isn't off the table if economic conditions don't improve. You can read Stewart Yerton's full story at civilbeat.org.
Speaking of unemployment, Local Five, the Hawai'i hotel workers union, says that only two thousand of its eleven thousand members are working. Hotel workers will be eligible for vaccines under the priority group 1-C, which could be in line for shots starting in late March or April. But Union leader Eric Gill is concerned that current CDC guidelines only include front-of-house workers.
The United States Postal Service has released a series of public service announcements designed to educate the public about variations of the "money mule" scam. We reached out to US Postal Inspector Jeff Fitch, who joined us on last week's show, to learn more.
The Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' webinars sheds more light on various types of consumer fraud. Watch them here.
