How Do You Know Your Unemployment Benefits Are Exhausted
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En español | It's been more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic exploded in the Usa. That's a milestone with serious fiscal consequences for the more than 3 million workers age 50 and older who have lost their jobs during this crisis.
While the rules for collecting unemployment insurance vary by state, in many of them, the maximum length of time a person can collect regular benefits is 26 weeks — or roughly six months. That means many people who haven't been able to find jobs to replace ones they lost this twelvemonth are now discovering that they too are losing their unemployment benefits. But three programs can help eligible individuals go on to receive crucial fiscal help, every bit long as they know these options be and take action to enroll.
One time you lot run out of weeks to collect benefits through your land's regular unemployment insurance program, you go eligible for federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), a programme that stimulus legislation created this year. When those benefits run out, y'all may be able to collect Extended Benefits (EB), some other federal program designed to aid states during periods of high unemployment. And nevertheless another program created by coronavirus stimulus legislation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), could offer y'all a few more weeks, once your fourth dimension to collect other benefits is up.
The types of benefits yous are eligible for will depend on the policies in the country where you worked and the conditions of your previous employment, and then make sure to discuss all of your options with that country'southward employment agency. Here's what y'all should know about how each program could extend the number of weeks you can collect benefits:
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Bounty
Under the stimulus legislation enacted last yr, people tin can get benefits for upward to 79 weeks after their regular eligibility cheers to a programme called Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
But in many cases, the transition from regular benefits to PEUC hasn't been seamless, and many people appear to be missing out on money for which they are eligible.
"States are supposed to inform workers when they fall out of regular unemployment insurance that they are eligible for PEUC and give them data about how to apply," says Michele Evermore, former senior policy analyst at the National Employment Police force Projection who now works as a senior advisor on unemployment insurance for the U.S. Department of Labor. "But from what I'1000 hearing, that's not happening in every state. Unfortunately, during this pandemic, nosotros've found that you have to be incredibly persistent to actually access the benefits you lot're owed."
Whether or not a land sends out notification, unemployed workers do have to apply to receive PEUC benefits. That means yous should exist proactive and make certain to consummate whatever process your state requires, Evermore says. The PEUC application could exist as unproblematic equally checking a box on paperwork y'all already have to complete regularly to proceed to receive your usual weekly benefits. Or it could be an additional form y'all have to complete on your country'south unemployment website. Be sure to check with your state agency to notice out what you need to do to receive PEUC.
The eligibility requirements for PEUC are the aforementioned as your country'due south requirements for regular unemployment benefits, the only deviation existence that you've run out of eligibility for the latter. PEUC is paid for by the federal regime and the amount of your weekly PEUC benefits should be the aforementioned as your regular state benefit, including the additional $300 from the federal authorities. The PEUC plan currently is scheduled to stop the week of Sept. 6, 2021.
Extended Benefits
In about states, people who have run out of eligibility for both regular unemployment benefits and PEUC could then qualify for a plan chosen Extended Benefits. This federally funded program kicks in during periods of high unemployment inside a state. For example, during the week catastrophe October. three, these benefits were bachelor in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, co-ordinate to the U.S. Labor Section.
You should automatically transition into EB once you lot've exhausted your eligibility for both regular benefits and PEUC, Evermore says. The most common duration for collecting EB — which pays a weekly benefit equal to what y'all typically authorize for in your state based on your previous income — is a maximum of 13 weeks, but it could be longer or shorter depending on the state where yous were working. Be sure to contact your land agency if yous take any questions about your eligibility for EB.
Pandemic Unemployment Aid
Congress created this program this year every bit a mode to offer financial help to gig workers and other people who wouldn't otherwise be eligible to utilize for unemployment benefits. But if you lot've used up all of your weeks to collect regular benefits, PEUC and EB, you might at present authorize to receive PUA.
PUA currently offers its recipients upwards to 79 weeks of full unemployment benefits through Sept. 6, 2021.
Editor's note: This article originally was published on October 23, 2020. It has been updated with more recent information about when the PEUC and PUA programs will end.
Source: https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2020/unemployment-benefits-run-out.html
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