87,000 of the state’s unemployment recipients will be excluded from the upcoming round of $300 federally enhanced weekly benefits. 67,000 of the 87,000 will miss out due to not receiving at least 100 dollars in weekly payments from the state, and 20,000 will not qualify because on their unemployment form their unemployment reason is not stated to be related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The exclusion of those 87,000 is due to a reversal by the Labor Department from guidance given to the state last week that would have allowed those recipients to collect the new federal payments. Edwards wants it to be known that this was not the state’s decision.
“That guidance has actually changed over time and it has changed two or three times in the last week, but we do believe that guidance is final now,” said Edwards.
Edwards says 417,000 state beneficiaries will still qualify.
The Governor expects the first of those federally enhanced benefit checks will be sent sometime next week.
“We don’t yet have the money, we believe we will have the first tranche of funding from FEMA by the end of this week so I can’t say a date for certain,” says Edwards.
The benefits are being funded by FEMA emergency response dollars and are expected to last six weeks at most.
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