1. PUA benefits may not be less than half of the state's average weekly benefit amount. According to McComber, the communication issues stem from the “massive volume of claims and increased complexity of claims” during the pandemic and the agency’s now managing six new federal unemployment programs. Forest, It’s February, but this Triangle town already is calling off the July 4 fireworks, NC school board will rename school honoring segregation-era leader despite concerns, Vote for the News & Observer high school athlete of the week (2.26.21), Thunderstorms leave Wake and Johnston counties, but check out the Triangle forecast, COVID-19 vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Feb. 22, COVID-19 vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in North Carolina on Feb. 23, He gives $20 bills to the homeless, aiding Raleigh’s neediest by himself, Raleigh man uses his family’s birthdays to play the lottery. Claimants are now receiving payments under the 11-week extensions of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs. The PUA program expires March 14, 2021. Then in December, both received denial letters from DES, which said they were ineligible for PUA because they were not out of work due to COVID-19. The two quickly applied for unemployment and started receiving benefits in March. pua unemployment nc extension, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA): Provides unemployment compensation for individuals not eligible for regular unemployment insurance or any extensions to unemployment insurance. For most states this provides up to 20 … Claimants may receive PEUC for up to 24 weeks after exhausting state unemployment insurance benefits. People who exhaust their state unemployment are potentially eligible for PUA, a federal program set up to assist gig workers and self-employed people, and people who have used up state benefits. In the meantime, with the new stimulus package promising an additional $300 per week tacked on to benefits, including PUA, delays and mistaken denials will cost jobless North Carolinians even more. She previously reported on the environment, big industry and development as a freelance reporter in New Orleans. Fact-checking NC’s gubernatorial debate between Gov. If, weeks later, that person no longer has COVID-19, that would not be a valid reason for continuing to receive PUA benefits. UI claimants who have had a significant gap in getting unemployment benefits or exhausted their original PUA benefits prior to or before December 26th, 2020 will be able to file for the extended weeks once their state UI system has been updated with the new extensions and associated program changes (see FPUC state tracker). Helfgott and Ham both applied for PUA in November. All claimants who are receiving benefits for weeks ending on or after Jan. 2, 2021, are receiving an additional $300 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation … That was more than double the number of people who had a claim for state benefits pending that day — 8,289 — despite the fact that PUA claims make up just over a third of all unemployment claims filed in North Carolina since the start of the pandemic. “I feel like my hands are tied behind my back where I can’t go out and work and I can’t get unemployment — so how am I supposed to live?” said Ham. Typically, states have two years to comply with any federal unemployment policy changes, compared with the two weeks they got to set up PUA, said Evermore. In a statement to The N&O, Dory MacMillan, a spokesperson for Gov. Claimants have to re-certify and be re-approved each week. “I’ll feel so much better once we pay them back,” said Ham. By comparison, the overall average approval rate for all unemployment programs in the state is 67%. Claimants may receive PUA for up to 50 weeks. File Your Weekly Certification. That decision has had big consequences for PUA: the sooner claimants exhaust state benefits, the sooner they are potentially eligible for PUA. Meanwhile, those who don’t qualify for traditional state unemployment benefits could get up to 39 weeks of benefits via the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) in the CARES Act — that has now been bumped up to 50 weeks. Once the payments come in, the couple will be able to repay friends and family who helped them with bills. And then, the checks stopped coming. “Without further Congressional action, the last payable week for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) is the week ending Dec. 26, 2020,” according to the release. The program is unprecedented, offering relief to people typically excluded from unemployment benefits. Sophie Kasakove is a Report for America Corps member covering the economic impacts of the coronavirus. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provides up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits to individuals not eligible for regular unemployment compensation or extended benefits, including those who have exhausted all rights to such benefits. The new relief package includes an extension of both programs to March 14. His plan also includes a proposal to raise the supplementary weekly unemployment benefit (FPUC) to $400 and extend it through the end of September 2021 as well. Back in March, Helfgott left his job at a Circle K gas station — he has a congenital heart issue that puts him at risk of severe COVID-19 complications. If you are currently receiving state unemployment benefits, you will not see a link to file for PUA. [Approved Stimulus Package] Congressional leaders have passed a circa $900 billion stimulus plan that includes funding for an approximately 11 week extension (to March 14th 2021) to federal pandemic programs (PUA, PEUC) and additional supplementary unemployment benefits at $300 FPUC per week for millions of unemployed or underemployed Americans who … Sen. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat who represents Wake County, said he’s heard many complaints about the cumbersome process. “If somebody denies you so quickly and then all the sudden you’re approved so quickly, it’s kind of like, why didn’t that happen in the first place?” said Ham. If you do not have your documents when you start your application, you can save your work and come back to it when you are ready to submit all of your information. You can’t pre-register. With the extra $300 on the way, Ham bought Charlie some extra Christmas presents: a Harry Potter LEGO set and new watercolors. But it has stricter eligibility requirements than state unemployment: people can only receive it if they are out of work for one of several COVID-19 related reasons. Navigating the unemployment system has turned into a “full time job,” she said, that’s “literally in your mind 24/7: Are we going to survive today? How Unemployment Insurance Extensions Work. As an Unemployment Insurance recipient, you are likely eligible for PEUC, the new extension program from the federal government. “It’s almost bittersweet.”. The stimulus bill will extend both the PUA and PEUC programs for 11 weeks, as well as top up regular state benefits with an extra $300 … PUA benefits are only for individuals who are unemployed due to COVID-19 reasons, it does not cover: This includes the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. On Thursday, Gov. If you do not complete a Weekly Certification, you will not be considered for payment. According to DES, 17,712 people had a pending PUA claim on Dec. 23. “I’m approved, then I’m denied, and the money’s coming, then the money doesn’t come. This would provide coverage to eligible self-employed workers and independent contractors who are not typically eligible for unemployment … You must submit a Weekly Certification after each week for … But she remains perplexed by a system that left them with no choice but to borrow in the first place. NC overpaid unemployment benefits to thousands of people. On the next page, self-employed workers and independent contractors should click on the green Manual Entry button. “We could increase benefits a lot and it wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent,” said Nickel. Are we going to be able to make our bill for our phone so we can communicate with unemployment?”. ... A place for your unemployment insurance questions. PEUC provides up to 13 weeks of additional assistance for people who exhausted their 12 weeks of state … With the new extension, PUA includes up to 57 weeks of benefits, beginning February 2, 2020. The new stimulus bill offers jobless Americans another 10 weeks of unemployment benefits, but that may not help the tens of thousands of North Carolina residents who have already been left out of the program. That same week nationwide, on the other hand, the number of initial state unemployment claims was more than two and a half times the number of initial PUA claims: 841,111 were for state unemployment and 302,262 were for PUA. If you’re a 1099 employee, list the name and address displayed on your 1099 when completing the last employer section on your application. That was particularly true in North Carolina, where major budget cuts to the state unemployment agency by Republican legislators in 2013 left the agency understaffed, according to local experts. “You talk to one person at the same place and you talk to another person and it’s a completely different story,” said Ham. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In North Carolina in the week ending Dec. 26, there were roughly the same number of initial claims made for PUA as for state unemployment insurance: 8,080 claims were for state unemployment and 8,097 were for PUA, according to data from the federal Department of Labor. Even as the new federal stimulus extends PUA, thousands in North Carolina await approval or denial for claims filed in the program’s first round. You must be ineligible for regular state unemployment benefits to receive PUA. The date you can start collecting these benefits depends on when you were directly affected by COVID-19 and the date you filed your PUA claim. “It seems like every time we turn around, the programs that were meant for us aren’t really meant for us,” said Helfgott. PUA, established under the March CARES Act, is set to expire at the end of the year. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 that provides temporary income to eligible individuals who became unemployed as a result of the novel COVID-19 pandemic and are either self-employed, do not have sufficient work history to … North Carolina Division of Employment Security, File, Adjust or Review Quarterly Tax & Wage Report, Petition for Judicial Review in Benefits Case, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Account Creation and Sign In–Employers and Remitters FAQs, Account Creation and Sign In–Individuals FAQs, Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) FAQs, Eligibility Review for Interstate Claimants (Out of State) FAQs, Employability Assessment Interview (EAI) FAQs, Employer Tax Rate and Account Number Verification, Unemployment Insurance Benefits Between School Terms FAQs. Did PUA benefits officially get extended and if so, do I have to reapply? However, claimants may be eligible for a phaseout period to receive PUA through no later than the week ending April 10, 2021, if they receive a PUA payment for week ending March 13, 2021, and have not received the maximum benefit weeks for the program. I live in North Carolina and have been on PUA during COVID 19 (I was a Lyft driver). Ham, his fiancée who had left her job at a communications company in November due to a mental health crisis, was just starting to look for work again. Have you applied for unemployment benefits in NC this year? And the bills are still coming and it’s — it’s horrible.”. Enter the name and address you use for work purposes. 3 states are taking full advantage of President Trump's unemployment benefit memorandum. people filing claims. 63.6k. “We could increase benefits a lot and it wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent,” said Nickel. [North Carolina] PUA Extension [North Carolina] Question. Just under half of the applicants — 248,000 — have been found eligible for at least one week. The new federal COVID-19 relief law will require implementing additional federal benefits and extensions, McComber said. Cooper and Lt. Gov. DES must review claims individually to determine whether a person is eligible for PUA. But on Dec. 23, the day after The News & Observer sought comment, DES reopened their claims and approved them both for PUA. They fell behind on their bills, leaned on family and friends, and started making deliveries for Doordash and Postmates using the car they share. For the weeks they received the federal $600 supplement, they managed fine. Nickel and other Democratic legislators plan to push for expanding and extending state benefits when they return in January. The Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020, which extends benefits under the CARES Act, and provides new qualification requirements, was signed into law on December 27, 2020.. Because the Continued Assistance Act was signed on December 27, 2020, individuals collecting benefits under the PUA and PEUC programs will be eligible for benefits for the week … When claim volumes are high, it may take several weeks for the claimant to receive a determination of benefits. If you were laid off, the state unemployment office would calculate whether you'd receive benefits for the $30,000 via PUA or $20,000 via unemployment insurance but not a combination of the two. Congress reached a $900 billion Covid relief deal Sunday that extends and enhances unemployment benefits. The benefit extensions will offer 11 additional weeks of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). In your Weekly Certification, report any wages you earned during that week. Examples of documents to show past employment and income: Examples of documents to show COVID-19 as the reason for loss of work: 2. Documentation from medical professionals related to diagnosis or isolation instructions, Notices from school or childcare providers, Notices from county or state government regarding business closures or stay at home orders, Documentation that a job offer or need for your services was cancelled or delayed because of COVID-19. federal CARES Act program for people who are unable to work as a result of COVID-19 and who are not eligible for regular state unemployment benefits PUA is payable for weeks of unemployment, partial unemployment, or inability to work caused by COVID-19 related reasons beginning on or after January 27, 2020. To Helfgott and Ham, this determination didn’t make any sense. Claimants who are found to have received benefits fraudulently are required to repay the Division of Employment Security and could be subject to criminal prosecution pursuant to state and federal laws. All individuals collecting PUA will receive $300 per week from Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), in addition to weekly benefits as calculated above. 3.0k. It wasn’t enough. She also worried about bringing the virus back to the small Raleigh house she shares with Helfgott and her 11-year old daughter, Charlie, who has a heart murmur and other underlying conditions. They had used up their maximum number of weeks of state unemployment benefits, plus two federal extensions established through the CARES Act. “We have the money to do it, and I’m just hoping that we can convince Republican leadership to help throw jobless workers a lifeline.”. “It’s ridiculous. pua unemployment nc extension, The CARES Act provides for a temporary federal program called Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). By the end of September, their phone company began intermittently shutting off their service until they’d put together enough to pay some of the bill. Over half a million people have applied for PUA in North Carolina, according to the Division of Employment Security — 37% of the total number of people who’ve applied for unemployment benefits of any kind since the start of the pandemic. But once that program ended, they struggled to live off Ham’s $127 a week and Helfgott’s $93 in state benefits. Help us cover your community through The News & Observer's partnership with Report For America. Due to the timing of when the bill was signed, those who file for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program will go without PUA benefits this week. Sign into your online account at des.nc.gov and click on the Apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance link to complete the application process. Roy Cooper said he supports returning North Carolina back to 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits and raising … Tell us your story. Ham joined a Facebook group for unemployed people in North Carolina with over a thousand members and found many others experiencing the same frustrations. Ham and Helfgott said they never got a straight explanation about the reversal, either. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, is a federal CARES Act program for people who are unable to work as a result of COVID-19 and who are not eligible for regular state unemployment benefits, such as self-employed workers and independent contractors. People with mild COVID cases may still experience symptoms for months, study says. The PEUC is essentially an extension of regular state unemployment (funded under the CARES act) and allows for up to an additional 13 weeks of benefits added to the end of regular unemployment benefits. Sign up for the Afternoon Update and get the day’s biggest stories in your inbox. There are provisions for extending COVID related enhanced unemployment benefit programs like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) by six months until the end of September 2021. Beginning Friday, May 22, North Carolinians who have exhausted their state unemployment insurance benefits can apply for an extension of benefits through the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program (PEUC). Across the country, state unemployment offices struggled to ramp up the PUA program from scratch in the early months of the pandemic. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article248177835.html As Christmas approached, the couple spent a day making deliveries for Doordash to make enough to buy Charlie a few presents from Walmart and the Dollar Tree. DES recommends you upload all necessary documents with your application before you click ‘Submit.’ However, you can submit your application even if documents, such as tax returns, are not yet available. The catch: You can only apply for this extension once you have run out of your state’s unemployment benefits. After a couple of months missed rent, the couple received several eviction notices. Of the more than 500,000 people who’ve applied for PUA in North Carolina since the end of March, 140,000 have been found ineligible, said Kerry McComber, spokesperson for DES. Both Ham and Helfgott’s PUA claims were pending for weeks before they received denial letters. In 2013, the state also cut the maximum number of state unemployment benefit weeks from the nationwide standard of 26 to a range of 12 to 20 depending on the unemployment rate. GOP bill would let UNC and NC State fans attend games. Failure to provide documentation could result in an individual being provided the minimum weekly benefit amount for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Both had uploaded doctor’s letters attesting that their underlying conditions made working too risky. Roy Cooper, said the “legislature should increase the value and length of state unemployment benefits, which are the lowest in the country.”. Like anything, when you have a system that’s designed to accommodate a small number of people and you have hundreds of thousands, it’s hard to make it work as well as it should,” Nickel said. (i.e., Joe Claimant or Joe Claimant’s Business). Key enhanced unemployment provision extensions include: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance ( PUA ) The PUA program, designed for freelancers, gig workers and independent contractors or those that generally don’t qualify for regular state unemployment, has been extended by … PUA is not payable for any week of unemployment ending after December 31, 2020. “W. 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