CRANSTON, R.I., June 26, 2012 -- Rhode Island's Department of Labor and Training is cutting back on hours you can talk to a live staff member in their unemployment insurance call center -- partly due to reductions in federal funding.

The new hours will have the center closing at noon on days that aren't as busy -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:

Monday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tuesday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Thursday: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The new hours begin July 2.

Right now, the wait time is about half an hour for a live associate on the phone.

The unemployment insurance program has issued layoff notices to just over a third of its staff members; once they are gone, the program anticipates the wait could go up by ten minutes.

The department highly recommends you file for your benefits online at www.dlt.ri.gov rather than relying on telephone filing. By the end of the 2013 fiscal year, the department said, the call center will no longer be taking telephone claims -- all claims will be online -- and would only focus on customer service assistance.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.wpri.com