Wind Advisory
from SAT 12:00 PM MST until SAT 10:00 PM MST, Western Pima County including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells, Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys including Nogales, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail, South Central Pinal County including Eloy/Picacho Peak State Park, Southeast Pinal County including Kearny/Mammoth/Oracle, Upper San Pedro River Valley including Sierra Vista/Benson, Eastern Cochise County below 5000 ft including Douglas/Wilcox, Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys including Clifton/Safford, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties including Hannagan Meadow, Galiuro and Pinaleno Mountains including Mount Graham, Chiricahua Mountains including Chiricahua National Monument, Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains including Bisbee/Canelo Hills/Madera Canyon, Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains including Mount Lemmon/Summerhaven, Baboquivari Mountains including Kitt Peak, Kofa, Central La Paz, Aguila Valley, Southeast Yuma County, Gila River Valley, Northwest Valley, Tonopah Desert, Gila Bend, Buckeye/Avondale, Cave Creek/New River, Deer Valley, Central Phoenix, North Phoenix/Glendale, New River Mesa, Scottsdale/Paradise Valley, Rio Verde/Salt River, East Valley, Fountain Hills/East Mesa, South Mountain/Ahwatukee, Southeast Valley/Queen Creek, Superior, Northwest Pinal County, West Pinal County, Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, Tonto Basin, Mazatzal Mountains, Pinal/Superstition Mountains, Sonoran Desert Natl Monument, San Carlos, Dripping Springs, Globe/Miami, Southeast Gila County

Some on unemployment feel 'punished' by Arizona with incorrectly closed accounts

A Valley resident on unemployment said on Dec. 7 that she feels like Arizona is punishing her and everyone else collecting benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To combat fraud, people on unemployment had to prove their identities and it's lead to massive headaches and issues across the state as many on unemployment lost benefits after their profiles were incorrectly flagged as fraudulent.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) is requiring pandemic unemployment assistance recipients to prove their identity through ID.me before getting more payments.

Kelly Turner of Avondale says of her DES experience, "I kept failing. I kept failing particular things about the type of phone you use."

Her documents to prove her identity were not accepted. So she, like everyone else FOX 10 spoke with, had to wait to speak with an employee.

"A punishment, you know, it feels like it’s a punishment," she said as the wait times are sometimes more than five hours long.

Ken Colburn with Data Doctors said the high volume all at once can create issues for computer programs.

"Any time you have an automated system and you do high volume you’re going to find bugs, you’re going to find problems, which obviously ID.me did," Colburn said.

DES said Sunday the wait time problems were fixed, but after waiting seven hours on Monday, Dec. 7, Charlie Drayer begged to differ.

In total, Drayer says he’s now waited 20 hours over the course of several days and still has no answers.

DES did not respond to questions Monday and neither did ID.me.

For more reports on the Department of Economic Security, visit this link.