Unemployed workers in Pennsylvania will begin receiving an extra $300 earlier than the state expected, according to Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak.
Payments will start arriving Sept. 14 for individuals who apply and qualify for the federal Lost Wages Assistance program(LWA), Oleksiak said Friday.
According to data provided by Local21news, people who are fully or partially unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible. They must also receive at least $100 per week in benefits from one of the following programs:
- Regular Unemployment Compensation (UC).
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC).
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).
- Extended Benefits (EB).
- Short-Time Compensation (STC) or shared work.
- Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA).
Individuals receiving benefits from these programs, with the exception of PUA and Shared Work, will need to apply for LWA by certifying one time only that their unemployment is due to COVID-19.
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Also, PUA claimants do not have to apply because they previously certified they were unemployed due to COVID-19 and will receive payments automatically. Employers in a Shared-Work program must provide the required certification on behalf of all participating employees.
Individuals can begin applying for the extra $300 weekly benefit after 6 a.m. Sunday. They must go to www.uc.pa.gov/cert and log in as if they are filing a biweekly claim, then select “complete LWA certification.”
LWA payments will be made for the following previous claim weeks: Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15, Aug.22 and Aug. 29.
State officials said the LWA program runs through December or until the federal funding runs out.
The money is coming from a FEMA grant. Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration applied for the grant as part of President Donald Trump’s executive action to extend federal unemployment benefits.