Alabama Unemployment Website Error Affected Thousands

MONTGOMERY, AL — A glitch on Alabama's unemployment certification website that affected about 53,000 residents and prevented many from being able to file weekly unemployment certifications has been fixed, state officials said Sunday night.

According to the Alabama Department of Labor, a glitch on the department's website caused many people to get a suspension notice, instead of verification that their certification went through. Officials said the issue had to do with a programming error on the website, and had nothing to do with the person filing the unemployment certification.

Department officials apologized for the extra stress it caused in a series of Twitter posts late Sunday.

"Some of you saw a message on your trackers indicating that the week has already been filed for you. This was an error. You will need to go back and certify yourself, online or by phone. Again, we apologize for all of the inconveniences today, we know it has been stressful," department officials said Sunday night.

Officials say they've lifted the suspensions for everyone, and that people should now be able to file their certifications again, whether that's online, in-person or over the phone.

Unemployment has hit Alabama hard — state officials said April’s unemployment rate reached 12.9 percent in April, which represents 283,787 unemployed people. That's 216,783 more than March, officials said.