BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Bob Waldren hasn’t been getting unemployment aid for the last several weeks.  

“We’re stretching it, really stretching it, to get everything paid, food and everything,” Waldren said.

Waldren worked part-time at Western Kentucky University and he’s been getting benefits since his job was cut when the pandemic started.

His issue with unemployment started when the site was shut down last month due to fraud concerns. Ever since, his claim hasn’t gone through, only telling him it’s “under fact finding.”

“What is that?” Waldren said. “I have no idea. I can’t get in touch with anybody to find out."

Waldren calls the unemployment office almost every day with no answer. He hasn’t been able to get in-person help either.  

“I just want to know what’s going on,” Waldren said.

Spectrum News 1 has spoken with several others facing a similar issue with identity verification after the unemployment site was taken down.  

Gov. Andy Beshear said criminals were exploiting the process.  

“Without the extra steps we’ve now put into place, these criminals were coming in and actually changing the bank accounts of individuals who were receiving unemployment,” Beshear said during a press conference on May 24. “That was stealing their money and it was stealing the state’s money.”

Waldren is technically retired, so he’s not looking for full-time work. The job he had at Western Kentucky University isn’t available right now.

“I told them I’d be freed up now since I’m vaccinated and ready to go back, but there’s nothing available until August,” he said.

Until then, Waldren just wants answers about his claim so he can stay afloat.

“When I was working, there was no problem, and now when that’s gone as well as the unemployment, that’s the money that we used,” Waldren said.

Kentucky has 122,578 unresolved unemployment claims, including 2,773 from March and April 2020. According to numbers from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, 56,437 claims have been flagged for either fraud or identity issues.