Sandra M. Powell, head of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, talks about the improvements the agency has made to help the unemployed file claims. One planned change would allow online certification of eligibility for benefits.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE – At 12:01 a.m. each Sunday, while most Rhode Islanders are asleep, people who are out of work and collecting unemployment benefits begin calling an automated phone line at the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

By completing that call, the unemployed are able to “certify” that they remain available to work and are actively seeking work — a key requirement to ensure that they continued to receive weekly benefits.

Sunday morning is the first time each week that the unemployed may complete the certification process.

But with unemployment so high, the automated system known as TeleServe has become overburdened, said Sandra M. Powell, the agency’s director.

About 26,000 calls typically come in between 12:01 a.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. on Monday, said Raymond A. Filippone, the agency’s assistant director who oversees the unemployment insurance operation.

Call volume was so high on April 19 that some people could not get through. “On a Sunday, people can experience busy signals,” Powell said at a State House hearing last week.

To help resolve the problem, the agency is working on a program that would let the unemployed certify for benefits over the Internet, Powell said.

The agency hopes to have online certification in place by early July, Powell said in an interview at the State House last week.

Online certification would also allow the unemployed to sidestep certain complications involved in the TeleServe phone system.

For example, TeleServe is reached through the same phone number, (401) 243-9100, that others use to reach the agency’s unemployment-insurance call center for a variety of issues, such as filing an initial claim for benefits, getting a question answered or resolving a problem.

As the state’s unemployment rate has risen — it’s currently at 10.5 percent — the number of calls to that phone number has skyrocketed.

In response, the agency in December stopped accepting TeleServe calls during regular business hours.

Instead, it required that callers phone TeleServe only during designated hours — from 12:01 a.m. on Sundays to 7 a.m. Mondays, for example, and any time Monday through Friday from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

(The stretch from early Sunday through early Monday remains popular because, in general, the earlier in the week someone calls, the sooner that person will receive benefits later in the week, agency spokeswoman Laura Hart said.)

The agency is also working on other plans to streamline the unemployment benefits process, which has been a source of frustration to many people who are out of work and to some members of the House Finance Committee, which has taken on an oversight role in recent months as the agency has struggled to cope.

For example:

•Automated Call-Backs: People who dial the state’s unemployment call center wait an average of about 35 minutes on hold before reaching a call-center staff member.

That is down from an average of about three hours earlier this year, said Powell and House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino. But it is not enough, Powell acknowledged. The average wait should drop further as newly hired workers become more familiar with the system and the unemployment insurance program’s intricate rules, she said.

In addition, the agency hopes to have in place, by the end of next month, an automated call-back system, Powell said. That way, people would not have to wait on hold. Instead, they would have the option to receive a call-back later, without losing their place in the phone queue, Powell and Filippone said. Rhode Island will be one of the first states to implement such a system for unemployment insurance-related calls, Filippone said.

•Online Claims: All claims for benefits that are filed online are reviewed by agency staff, Powell said. But some claims need not be subject to extensive review, Powell said. Under a new system that could be in place by July 1, those claims could bypass extensive review and be processed more rapidly, she said. Up to 30 percent or so of online claims may be eligible for more rapid processing under the planned “clean claims” system, Filippone said.

ndowning@projo.com