Want to file an unemployment claim in Kansas? What’s the first letter of your last name?

As unemployment claims continue to skyrocket, Kansas is attempting to ease the stress on its overwhelmed and outdated benefits system by having residents file on certain days based on their last names.

People with last names starting with A through M are asked to file Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Individuals with N-Z last names are asked to file Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Anyone who misses their day can file Saturday instead.

“By participating in our gating program, you will help to ensure that all Kansans are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits and also have access to the system,” Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Delia Garcia said during a news conference Thursday.

Other states, such as Colorado, have rolled out similar procedures to process claims in a more timely fashion.

The department is also staffing up and shortening its training process, which usually runs about six months. Officials said it has been shortened the training to about three weeks, meaning a new team can come in every two weeks to help answer calls.

Since Garcia started her job, she’s been working with an IT team to modernize the system. But the pandemic swept through the United States, forcing many Kansans to lose their jobs and postponing any technical updates, she said.

More than 160,000 initial claims have been filed in the past four weeks.

Kansas Department of Administration Secretary DeAngela Burns-Wallace said Thursday that when claims started surging, she employed an “IT SWAT team” to add more processing power to the system.

“The volume of claims has truly overloaded our system, but it didn’t completely break it,” Burns-Wallace said.

The system to file claims was temporarily taken down Tuesday.

Lawmakers who have heard horror stories from constituents have criticized the Kelly administration over the lapses.

“The problem with processing unemployment claims is nothing more than an inability to properly manage the agency,” Wagle said in a statement this week.

Burns-Wallace said that the temporary shut down increased the system’s capacity to handle the high number of requests coming through.

“We are now in a place where we are processing closer to optimal levels to try and meet the demand,” she said.

Through the week, the Department of Administration will be adding more enhancements to the benefits system.

Kansas added roughly 150 employees to its Department of Labor to decrease wait times throughout March and April, Gov. Laura Kelly said during a daily briefing Wednesday. Originally, only 20 employees were answering phones.

The Department of Labor’s call center received 751,940 calls Tuesday — roughly 5,000 per employee, Kelly previously said.

The agency also extended its hours.

People who need to file for unemployment can do so at www.getkansasbenefits.gov.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 4:46 PM.