Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations

The Missouri Department of Labor's Division of Employment Security notified 63 employees recently that the St. Louis unemployment-claims call center will be closed soon. The closing means that St. Louis area claims will be handled by call centers in Kansas City, Springfield or Jefferson City. Most of the displaced employees, many of whom have worked with the department 20 years or more, will be offered jobs at the remaining call centers, a department spokeswoman said. However, some of the affected workers said that they were told the other job offers were not guaranteed, and that the department would not pay moving expenses. The spokeswoman noted that the laid-off workers were getting more than two months notice, when state law only required 15 days. The St. Louis call center is being closed, the division said in a release, because it is the only one not in a department-owned building.