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President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats hope to approve $ 1.9 trillion in additional relief from the pandemic, including extra unemployment benefits.
Still, many unemployed workers have yet to receive payment of benefits from the latest stimulus package, which former President Trump signed more than a month ago.
States like California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana and Virginia have not provided such assistance to some groups of workers, according to their respective unemployment agencies.
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The $ 900 billion relief measure, passed in late December, extended unemployment benefits by 11 weeks and increased wages by $ 300 a week.
Many states have issued this aid to workers in stages, as they adjust their systems to account for various pieces of legislation.
As a result, some groups expected more than others.
“The complexity of some of the additional specifications is a challenge to program and will be a greater burden, not just for our [unemployment insurance] employees, but also to claimants, “said Mark Butler, Georgia’s labor commissioner, in January.
Some of these updates are in progress, the Georgia Department of Labor said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Biden’s plan would be to extend unemployment benefits until September and increase wages by $ 400 a week.
Depleted unemployment benefits
Delays seem more common for workers who have been receiving benefits since the beginning of spring and “exhausted” their aid – meaning that they have reached the maximum number of weeks allowed by the CARES Act.
This federal law limited the duration of aid through two temporary programs: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which pays benefits to self-employed workers and others who do not qualify for typical state assistance, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which offers extra weeks of state benefits for the long-term unemployed.
It seems that the resumption of their benefits took longer than for other workers who have not yet reached their maximum weeks.
Colorado, for example, started providing aid to workers on Monday – with the exception of workers who exhausted the PUA and PEUC benefits.
The date for “Phase 2 implementation” has yet to be determined, according to a post on the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment website.
Californians who have exhausted benefits face a similar situation, according to a spokesman for the Department of Employment Development, who has not offered a timetable for system updates.
Virginia and Hawaii began to pay those who had exhausted PUA benefits, but not those who were left without PEUC benefits for the long-term unemployed.
Hawaii will soon start paying for these benefits, said William Kuntsman, a spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. He did not offer a specific timetable.
Virginia officials originally planned to issue payments on January 29. However, “the implementation date has changed”, according to the Employment Commission website. A spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The $ 900 billion pandemic aid package created additional requirements for some workers to continue receiving aid. For example, PUA beneficiaries must send documents to prove their self-employment. (The time period differs for new applicants and those who were collecting.)
Indiana employees will begin to pay PUA benefits as soon as these requirements are resolved. These “vouchers” were made available to state workers as of January 29, according to the Department of Workforce Development.
“Additional requirements must be integrated before eligible payments can be released,” said Butler of Georgia.
They include increased requirements for identification verification, a new mechanism for employers to report denials of employment and failure to return to work by employees, and additional fraud detection measures, he said.