SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's Employment Development Department (EDD) is expanding unemployment benefits after the latest stimulus package passed earlier this month.
The American Rescue Plan includes an extension of PUA and PEUC benefits along with another $300 per week unemployment boost, but EDD says it won't be able to roll those benefits out to everyone until the end of April.
Whether you will see a gap in payments depends on what unemployment program you are on.
Regular UI
EDD says people on regular unemployment insurance (UI), as well as FED-ED, will not see any changes in their payments. They will also continue to get the extra $300 per week in benefits without interruption.
PUA
People who receive federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits will not be able to certify for several weeks while EDD works on getting the extension up and running. EDD says this includes people with existing or exhausted PUA claims. As of March 6, there were 1.2 million people receiving PUA benefits.
EDD says it expects PUA claimants to be able to certify by April 10, 2021.
While people would not be paid right away, they will be able to certify and get paid for all weeks they are unemployed, this includes the extra $300 boost.
The stimulus package extends PUA benefits from 57 weeks to 86 weeks.
EDD also notes some changes for people filing new PUA claims. EDD says new claimants can file now and will start receiving a minimum of $167 a week, alongside the additional $300. Starting April 10, the new claimants will be able to provide income documentation that could increase their weekly benefit to as much as $450 per week.
PEUC
People who get Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) will also see a delay in their benefits.
EDD says while it will work to automatically process PEUC extensions for people with existing exhausted claims, people may not be able to certify until April 30, 2021. This means more than a month of waiting for payments.
While people would not be paid right away, they will be able to certify and get paid for all weeks they are unemployed, this includes the extra $300 boost.
The new federal extension adds 29 weeks of PEUC, which now totals 53 weeks of payments for those who hit the end of their regular state unemployment insurance.
End of benefit year
The rollout of the new federal benefits extension is coming at a time many people on regular UI are hitting the end of their benefit year, or 12 months since they first filed their claim.
Those who are reaching the end of their 12-month unemployment benefits claim should expect to be contacted by the EDD either through their online account or by mail.
Once people reach the end of their benefit year they must reapply for another claim if they are still not employed. EDD will check if they are qualified for a new regular state UI claim or connect them to any federal benefits that they may qualify to receive.
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
An employment rights attorney says the main thing you need is to make sure you file a tax return and have a mailing address to get the stimulus payment. Click here to watch and subscribe on the ABC10 YouTube page.
