AUGUSTA – A computer software measure that was designed to prevent fraud and erroneous payments delayed unemployment payments for several hundred laid off workers this week.

“The problem affected a broad category of claimants and was not the result of faulty actions on their part,” said Adam C. Fisher, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Labor.

Fisher said payments to the affected claimants were reprocessed Wednesday, which means that persons affected by the computer glitch may not have their benefits deposited until Friday at the earliest.

Only those persons who filed weekly unemployment claims on Sunday or Monday morning and are collecting benefits under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Tier 1 or 2 extensions were affected.