December 24, 2020

Recently, IBEW 21 officers and staff have been fielding inquiries from our members working for AT&T regarding what appears to be an unemployment fraud scheme. After receiving a number of calls, our Local’s officers and staff opened an investigation and found that the scheme appears to be affecting both our members as well as several managers.

When we learned of these problems senior management at AT&T was contacted.  The Company is currently unware of any potential security breaches.  We’ve been told AT&T is now investigating the situation and we stand ready to assist them in every way possible.

If you have been contacted by your manager or received a letter about your alleged unemployment filing you need to take the situation seriously.  You most likely are a victim of identity theft.

You must contact the Illinois Department of Employment Security the IDES Fraud and Identity theft page can be found here.

After you notify the State of Illinois you should also go to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website and click on the Report Identity Theft link which can be found here.

We are advising all Local 21 members to inform their managers and your Union representatives about fraudulent unemployment claims.  This notification is important so both AT&T as well as our Local can understand just how widespread any possible breach may be and how it may have occurred.  Again if you have any questions contact your manager and your IBEW 21 representative. 

We must all thank our Sisters and Brothers who made us aware of these fraudulent claims. This isn’t something anyone wants to have to deal with at any time but dealing with this type of situation while also dealing with the ongoing pandemic is literally untenable to imagine.