DOL retirements jeopardize unemployment checks? | The Connecticut Mirror

Without two key information technology workers who retired last fall, the state Department of Labor might not be able to adapt its computer system to new unemployment benefit extension requirements in time to get checks out to state residents, an agency official said Thursday.

The department wants to hire back the two retirees, but can’t legally do so, according to an advisory opinion adopted by the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board Thursday.

The board’s move also affects the state Department of Social Services, which has already hired back three IT retirees who Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby said are critical to maintaining the system of databases needed to administer programs serving more than 650,000 people.

Ethics board members expressed sympathy for department officials, who argued that critical state services would be in jeopardy without the ability to hire back recent retirees with specialized knowledge of mainframe computer systems they spent decades tweaking and adapting…

via DOL retirements jeopardize unemployment checks? | The Connecticut Mirror.