11-Week Extension set to Begin for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has completed system updates for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC program. The program was granted an 11-week extension, which is set to roll out on Feb. 16 with a phased implementation. 

The Continued Assistance Act  allows PEUC claimants an additional 11 weeks of benefits payable for the week ending Jan. 2 through March 13 and a phaseout to April 10, 2021. Payments will also include the additional $300 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation weekly benefit.

The DLIR will begin processing approximately 68,000 potential eligible claims beginning on Feb. 15 until all potential eligible claims are available and processed. 

The department will run batches of approximately 5,000-10,000 claims on a nightly basis.

Once a claimant’s monetary determination has been established, claimants will be able to file weekly claim certifications going back to the week ending Jan. 2, 2021. Claimants will receive a monetary determination by mail notifying them that an additional 11 weeks of benefits have been added.

For more detailed information and FAQs visit the department online.

None of the benefits described above, nor unemployment benefits of any kind, are available to employees who are terminated for cause, quit their job without good cause, refuse to return to work, or refuse to receive full-time pay. Attempts to collect benefit payments in these situations could be viewed as fraudulent. Investigation of job separation is part of the eligibility determination process.