Restaurant Workers Overload Unemployment System
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Laid off restaurant staff throughout the region have begun to apply for unemployment after many restaurants either closed or scaled back staff following Gov. Chris Sununu’s March 16 order to close on-site dining throughout the state.
Heather Chadinha of Peterborough was laid off from her waitressing jobs when restaurants closed due to the coronavirus. Staff photo by Ben Conant.
“We’re all trying to collect unemployment right now,” Peterborough Diner manager Wendy White said. She said she started the process for herself two days prior, but hadn’t yet received the password required to continue the process from the state office. The Diner’s closure affected 10 or 11 employees, she said. White’s husband was also recently laid off. “It… puts me a little at ease,” to know that everyone else is in the same position, she said.
“I felt like it was important for the government to see. Everybody is being affected by this,” Harlow’s manager Jess McCulloch said, and that she’s been encouraging all 40 or so staff members to sign up for unemployment “whether you work two days or seven days, whether you live with parents or at home,” in order to show the state how many people from just one small business have been affected by the closures.
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