Kansas official: Unemployment claims grew more complicated

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Kansas Department of Labor official isn’t disputing a legislative audit’s finding that hiring hundreds of workers during the coronavirus pandemic didn’t appear to result in the agency answering more calls from unemployed workers seeking benefits. But Deputy Labor Secretary Peter Brady said Wednesday that calls to the department became more complicated as the federal government created six programs to help workers after COVID-19 restrictions on businesses in the spring of 2020 caused unemployment to surge.  He also during a meeting on unemployment issues that some of the 500 workers hired by the department sometimes were diverted to resolving problems with individual claims so that people would get benefits.