UIA reopens renovated Grand Rapids Local Office

The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) today reopened its Grand Rapids Local Office at 3391 Plainfield NE, Ste. A, following renovations that required staff to move to a nearby location to serve customers seeking to meet in-person with a UIA agent about their jobless claim.

The renovations are part of the UIA’s focus on improving the customer experience, upgrading security, and creating an agency that is a national model for fast, fair, and fraud-free service.

During the second round of renovations staff served claimants who made appointments at a temporary space provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on Martin Luther King Jr. Street SE.

Previous renovations have been completed at four UIA Local Offices: Grand Rapids, Lansing, Saginaw, and Sterling Heights.

Anyone who needs in-person help with their claim can go to the Schedule an Appointment page at Michigan.gov/UIA to set up a meeting up to 14 days in advance at any of the UIA's 12 Local Offices across Michigan. Claimants can also use the Chat With An Agent feature through their Michigan Web Account Manager (MiWAM) account, the Ask Ava chatbot at Michigan.gov/UIA, or call Customer Service at 1-866-500-0017 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Creating solutions for Michigan’s workers

The Local Office renovations are one of many modernization reforms that benefit workers during their unemployment journey. Workers filing for benefits can access several innovative UIA resources:

• The UIA Claimant Roadmap: A six-step guide to applying for and understanding benefits. The roadmap is an easy-to-follow, user-friendly resource that can be found at Michigan.gov/UIAClaimantRoadmap.
• Online Coaching Sessions: Web-based group sessions led by UIA staff on topics such as filing a first-time claim, understanding a Monetary Determination letter, the protest and appeals process, and seeking work and registration requirements. The First-time Filer session is also available in Spanish. Sign up for a session at Michigan.gov/UIA.
• Guidance for federal workers: A comprehensive website of resources for federal employees who have recently been terminated from their jobs. Michigan.gov/FederalWorkerHelp provides guidance for filing for unemployment benefits, searching for a new job, or accessing community aid programs.
• More scheduling options: An expanded 14-day window to schedule in-person, phone, or virtual appointment times at Michigan.gov/UIA.
• Free legal help: The addition of six more advocates to the Advocacy Program to help more workers and employers with appeals of UIA redeterminations.
• New computer system: MiUI will be easy to use, speed claims processing, and build on the agency’s aggressive anti-fraud tactics. It replaces the decade-old MiWAM computer system used by workers to apply for benefits and employers to pay unemployment insurance taxes.
• User-focused website: Find answers to frequently asked questions, or access resources and toolkits, at Michigan.gov/UIA, which is optimized for reading on mobile phones or tablets. You can also browse UIA’s library of helpful instructional videos on YouTube.

Modernizing, transforming the UIA

The tools for claimants are part of a broad transformation of UIA. Other changes include: 

• The UIA Economic Dashboard, a deep dive into underlying trends in unemployment insurance in Michigan. Data provides a rich understanding of the impacts of unemployment across industries, occupations, and communities, and provides insights into which sectors are experiencing layoffs, claimant demographics, and the regions most affected. Access the dashboard at Michigan.gov/UIAEconomicDashboard.
• The UIA Modernization Workgroup, a coalition of thought leaders from the labor, business, and jobless advocate communities who provide insight on how the agency can better serve Michigan’s workers and employers.
• The Employer Help Center, a plain language guide answers employers’ questions on unemployment tax and claim issues and UIA programs. The innovative Help Center can be found at Michigan.gov/UIAEmployerHelpCenter.
• A Legal and Compliance Bureau to leverage collaborative anti-fraud practices to pursue bad actors who steal taxpayer money.
• Extension through June 2025 for nearly 80 limited-term employees in the Fraud and Investigations Division.
• New ethics and security clearance policies for employees and contractors.
• Partnerships with the Michigan Department of Attorney General, and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to stop fraud. Since March 2020, 166 criminals have been charged with unemployment fraud, 125 convicted, and 107 sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution.
• Perfect scores for the five years in a row from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) for employer audits in 2019-23, meeting the reasonable assurance of quality benchmark.
• A robust UI Trust Fund that totals approximately $2.8 billion. Weekly benefits are paid to workers from the Trust Fund, which is supported by taxes on employers.

Need help or have questions about a claim?

Meet with an agent: Schedule an in-person, phone, or virtual meeting at Michigan.gov/UIA.

Chat with an agent: Log into your MiWAM account Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Call Customer Service: 1-866-500-0017, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Ask Ava: Our chatbot at Michigan.gov/UIA can answer many questions.

Find answers: FAQs, videos, toolkits, and other resources at Michigan.gov/UIA.