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Hundreds Get Layoff Notices In Jobless Centers Funding Fight

HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA/AP) - Layoff notices are going out to more than 500 Pennsylvania state employees because of a dispute over additional state funding for unemployment compensation services.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's administration said roughly 520 employees will have received the notices by Tuesday.

The employees' last day on the job will be Dec. 19, when the Wolf administration plans to close unemployment compensation service centers in Allentown, Altoona and Lancaster.

Labor and Industry Department spokeswoman Sara Goulet says the administration has no other source of money to keep the centers open. Goulet says people will encounter longer waits when they call the remaining centers and potentially slower claims processing.

"There will be folks who are currently waiting for their claims to be processed that will see the processed slowed, and for folks who are going in to look for future benefits, there will be a logjam of claims," says Al Smith, of Service Employees International Union.

The Republican-controlled House approved $57.5 million in funding from workers' unemployment compensation taxes. The GOP-controlled Senate adjourned until January without voting on it.

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