CLEVELAND, Ohio – While many people have started receiving their $ 300 extra a week in unemployment benefits, others may have to wait a month or more to file for extended benefits that were part of the stimulus package just after Christmas. has been signed. said the head of unemployment on Wednesday.
Kim Henderson, director of the Ohio Department of Employment and Family Services, blamed the delay in implementing provisions of the December stimulus bill for the need to reprogram Ohio’s unemployment system to meet new federal requirements.
“I know and understand that it’s too long,” Henderson said. “We are working diligently to pressure our vendor, Deloitte (Consulting), to promote the readiness of the program.”
She said payments will be retrospective for all weeks a person is eligible, through Dec. 27.
Henderson said at least eight states have already been deployed with the new pandemic unemployment program – Alabama, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington – although no one she knew has used Deloitte.
For Ohio, Henderson said:
The $ 300-a-week extra unemployment benefits are now being paid to those who did not exhaust their benefits before the initial CARES Act program expired on December 27th.
* By 31 January (“hopefully sooner”), people who have used up their benefits through traditional unemployment will be able to apply retrospectively again. Eleven weeks added, up to 50 in total.
* By February 6, applications should be open to those new to the special pandemic unemployment program known as PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance). This is the program for people who would not otherwise be eligible for unemployment because they are either self-employed or their wage income is too low.
* On 26 February, applications should be opened to those who were previously in the PUA program, but they exhausted their benefits before the initial stimulus expired on 27 December. Eleven weeks were added, up to 50 in total.
In addition to extending the length of unemployment benefits, the recent incentive package included an additional payment of $ 300 per week for up to 11 weeks – a total of $ 3,300 – for unemployment benefits.
For both traditional unemployment and the PUA program, Henderson said no new applications will be accepted after March 13, and both expansions will expire on April 10, under the most recent stimulus package.
However, President Joe Biden and the new Congress are likely to have an extra stimulus. Biden proposed $ 400 extra per week, extensions to September and a new round of stimulus checks for workers and the unemployed.
Henderson began the news media briefing on Wednesday with a message on social media that she said circulated a woman who said her grandson had died as a result of the state unemployment agency’s response to pandemic suicide.
Henderson said she “wants to be sad and sorry about the loss she is experiencing”.
Others sent an email to Henderson on Wednesday about the mail, with one person responsible for the deaths of anyone connected to it, “square on my shoulders,” Henderson said.
Henderson responded in one email: “I reject your responsibility for anyone’s death,” adding that her team has been working hard for months, and millions of Ohio residents benefit from programs offered by her agency, which food aid, unemployment assistance, child services, child support, child care and workforce development.
“I get up every morning with one thing in mind and lead with integrity to the best of my ability,” Henderson said.
Earlier coverage
Ohio begins $ 300 supplemental unemployment payments; applications can start on Friday for others who are closed
What you need to know about the new stimulus tests, and $ 300 extra weekly in unemployment benefits: it’s rich! Questions and answers