PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Starting this week the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program (PEUC), a temporary federal unemployment program, will resume after being paused late last year. Before ending, the PEUC program provided an additional 13 weeks of unemployment to those who exhausted their regular benefits; it now provides claimants an additional 11 weeks. The extension is being funded by the new federal CARES act that Congress passed in December.

“Since receiving the information we needed from the federal Department of Labor two weeks ago, L&I has worked as quickly as possible to update our processing system so PEUC claimants can resume filing for benefits,” says Jennifer Berrier, acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

According to Berrier, more than 100,000 Pennsylvania residents were enrolled in the PEUC program. Any individual who has used their maximum claim weeks of regular unemployment is automatically enrolled in the federal program. With the 11-week extension, the PEUC program now provides a total of 24 additional weeks of benefits.

Claimants who have received the first 13 weeks of compensation can file for an additional 11 claim weeks during their biweekly cycle. Those who had some of their original 13 weeks remaining when the program paused on Dec. 26 should have received the 11-week extension on Jan. 24. 

All claimants will also automatically receive the additional $300 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

Go here for information on unemployment programs.