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Nearly 200 Federal Workers in Colorado Have Applied For Unemployment Amid Shutdown

Snow on Bear Lake Road in Rocky Mountain National Park remained unplowed due to the government shutdown.
Courtesy National Park Service
Snow on Bear Lake Road in Rocky Mountain National Park remained unplowed due to the government shutdown.

At least 196 furloughed federal employees in Colorado have applied for unemployment benefits from the state, a number that will likely rise as the government enters its second week of a partial shutdown.

Cher Haavind, director of communications for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, confirmed the number Monday, several days before Congress was scheduled to reconvene.About 53,000 federal employees live in the state. Not all are affected by the partial shutdown, but furloughed workers can apply for financial assistance through the department’s website, Haavind said.

“Any period of joblessness, especially this time of year is very difficult,” she said. “So having available resources at the state level is critical.”

Haavind said the state benefits can average up to 50 percent of a worker’s weekly wages, with a maximum weekly payout of $600.

The claims typically take four tosix weeks to process, she added.

Additionally, if Congress agrees to include back pay for furloughed time in a new spending bill, Coloradans receiving money from the state will be expected to pay back their unemployment assistance.

“Unfortunately it’s not a very cut and dry process,” Haavind said.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are expected to introduce a bill aimed at reopening the government when Congress reconvenes this week. President Donald Trump has refused to sign a bill that does not include funding for a border wall along the country’s southern border with Mexico.

Parts of the government, including the National Parks Service and Commerce Department, have been closed since Dec. 22.

Copyright 2018 KUNC

Matt is a passionate journalist who loves nothing more than good reporting, music and comedy. At KUNC, he covers breaking news stories and the economy. He’s also reported for KPCC and KCRW in Los Angeles. As NPR’s National Desk intern in Culver City during the summer of 2015, he produced one of the first episodes of Embedded, the NPR podcast hosted by Kelly McEvers where reporters take a story from the headlines and “go deep.”