Chris Keck received his last unemployment check in August.
Since then, the 43-year-old heavy equipment operator from Colorado Springs has watched his car get repossessed and has been evicted from his apartment. He lives in a borrowed RV parked in a friend’s backyard.
He’s angry about the entire situation, and he blames the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and its troubled unemployment insurance system.
“I don’t think anyone understands how hard it is to lose your home, your vehicle and your dignity,” Keck said. “They stripped it all from us.”
It’s been a month since the state labor department launched a new computer system used by the unemployed to file benefits claims, and the department continues to draw fire for the system’s problems along with a host of other issues — some under its control and some beyond its powers.
