Virginia Employment Commission reports faster benefit decisions, digital tools and new financial safeguards

Commissioner Mitch Melas of the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) told a Senate committee that the agency has reduced backlogs, improved the speed of eligibility decisions and first payments, and rolled out digital tools to speed customer access to unemployment benefits.

Melas said Virginia now exceeds federal timeliness benchmarks: about 87.2% of first payments go out within the 21-day metric and more than 88% of eligibility decisions are issued within 21 days. "We've made filing faster, more secure and more intuitive for Virginians," Melas said, citing the VEC's partnership with id.me and a new digital lobby website that integrates a virtual assistant, Ask VEC.

The improvement matters because faster determinations and payments reduce hardship for claimants and lower administrative strain during high-volume periods. Melas told the committee the commission also has shortened appeal processing times: commission‑level appeals that once averaged more than 100 days are now typically completed in under a month.

VEC officials described several operational changes behind those numbers. Susan Landis, VEC's director of unemployment insurance, said appeals backlogs created during the pandemic required…