Md. May Pay Jobless Benefits By Bank ATMs
Jobless Marylanders soon may be able to file their claims by telephone and collect unemployment benefits from bank cash machines under a plan that officials say could save the state about $100,000 a year.</br></br>Use of bank machines and "smart cards" could provide quicker, more secure payment to qualified applicants, said Thomas Wendell, director of the state Office of Unemployment Insurance.</br></br>"My job is trying to get people back to work, in suitable employment," Wendell said. "This system is something that could help to do that job better." The system, which is being tested in Washington state, also uses automatic teller machines to publicize job openings.</br></br>Maryland's Job Service helps place about 10 percent of the 80,000 people who find new jobs in the state each year, Wendell said. With electronic job-matching capability for unemployment claimants, that percentage should greatly increase, he said.</br></br>Wendell plans to talk next month with Washington state unemployment officials and representatives of TransFirst Corp., the Dallas firm that developed the system.