About 36,000 unemployment checks to be delayed

COLUMBUS — About 36,000 unemployment compensation checks will be mailed a few days late this week because of a computer problem, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said yesterday.

Power to the unemployment computer system failed Monday night, and the system would not respond when power was restored. As a result, about 36,000 checks that were supposed to be processed Monday and Tuesday evenings, and mailed the following mornings, were not processed.

Workers fixed a faulty cable, and the system was back in operation later yesterday, said Jon Allen, the department's spokesman. He said the agency expected to mail the checks today.

The computer system dates to the 1980s, and the department earlier decided it will be replaced next year.