Oklahoma Employment Security Commission Passes Out Tickets For Claim Aid

Tuesday, July 21st 2020, 5:27 pm

By: Mallory Thomas

TULSA, Okla. -

Thousands of people picked up tickets Tuesday that will allow them to meet with Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) staff at Tulsa's Expo Square later in the week.

Some people went to Expo Square expecting the worst, that they would be waiting in the heat of summer for several hours to get a ticket.

"I was expecting a huge crowd right now too and I was pleasantly surprised. I got here early thinking I had to be here at 1," said Matt Morton. Morton said he walked into Expo Square and walked out with a ticket in a matter of minutes.

"I had unemployment and then it went away for the last 4 weeks and now I'm just trying to get that resolved," said Morton.

Shawn Mcelory said he picked up a ticket for a similar reason. He said he was receiving unemployment then it suddenly stopped.

"They told me that if I didn't come down here to get this, that my name was taken down and my phone number and that they would call me in 2-3 weeks and I've already been a month behind on all of my stuff. I have 2 car payments that are almost a month behind on all of them," said Mcelory.

Mcelory said he spent countless hours on the phone with OESC with no luck. He said he's hoping they'll be able to help him in person.

OESC Interim Director Shelley Zumwalt said if you couldn’t get a ticket to meet with OESC this week you can still visit one of their 28 regional offices.

"You don't have to live in that area to utilize that regional office. We have 28 regional offices all over the state. They're on our website. If you're not having luck at your office, absolutely check out some of those other places," said Zumwalt.

Zumwalt said since March they've received more than 600,000 claims for unemployment and more than 200,000 claims have been approved. Zumwalt said they plan to meet more than 10,000 Oklahomans in person at events like the one at Expo Square.

OESC has announced 2 claim processing events in Ardmore on July 29-30.

You can find all the regional OESC offices here.