Hi everyone, this is Dr. Nitin Chhoda with Ignition Time. In this video i'm
going to answer the question what do you do if you're about to
exhaust your state unemployment benefits? Now by the way i'm
not talking about the $300 a week booster. I'm specifically talking
about what happens when you exhaust the state unemployment benefits? This is
very very important because keep in mind if you're not
getting state unemployment benefits then you may not qualify for the $300
a week booster. In fact the $300 week booster requires that you're getting at
least $100 a week from your state by way
of unemployment. Benefits so there are individuals who get less than hundred
dollars a week who don't get the 300 week booster.
So in this video i'm going to answer the question
what happens if you're about to exhaust your regular unemployment benefits and
what were the provisions of the Cares Act
that was passed back in march. Now some of you may already know this
but I know a lot of my subscribers and a lot of my viewers have been writing
messages saying that they're about to they're about to exhaust their state
benefits they're very scared, they're nervous, they're frightened
about how they're going to make, how they're going to make rent, how they're
going to pay their bills, how they're going to keep the lights on put food on
the table which is why I want to provide some of this some of this basic
information that was released as a result of
the Cares Act. So under the Cares Act and by the way
i'm quoting you directly from the department of labor's website.
So i'll provide you with the link in the description section below
to the website from the department of labor that provides you this specific
guideline. So you can check that out for yourself.
So it reads under the Cares Act states are permitted to extend
unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks under the new pandemic emergency
unemployment compensation program, PEUC. Now keep in mind normally states
provide up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. This
is normal. Every state's a little different and
i've done other extensive videos on the minimum
and maximum benefit amount in different states across the country. I've done
videos on the the retroactive payment dates for states across the country. So
i've done several other videos that will provide you with
a good foundation, a good baseline of information for your particular state.
In fact, I believe that information and that content
is probably the best on the internet because it consolidates everything into
one area. You don't have to go searching to different places.
Although the the final interpretation of your state unemployment benefits will be
made by your state. So normally states provide up to 26 weeks
of benefits under the PEUC program which was
established as a result of the Cares Act because we're in the middle of a
public health emergency there's a 13 week extension
to these state benefits. So let's say you were going to get benefits for 26 weeks
now you're going to get them for 39 weeks
and that's the case for everyone. That is a federal guideline that was put into
place as a result of the Cares Act. So that's #1.
So you're at 26 weeks on average plus an additional 13 weeks which is the PEUC
program. Now you need to contact your state to make
sure that you continue after the 26 weeks to receive those benefits.
Do you have to do any additional paperwork do you have to do any
additional certifications do you have to comply with additional
guidelines you should check with your state.
because i i want to make sure that everyone gets these benefits now this is
a federal law which means states have to do it
so your state will do it you just have to make sure you follow the correct
procedure in order to be able to get it and peuc
benefits are available for weeks of unemployment beginning
after your state implements the new program and by now
all states have indeed implemented the puc because again this was a guideline
from back in march and ending with weeks of unemployment
ending on or before december 31st 2020 in other words the benefits will
continue no later than december 31st 2020.
so let's say you go on unemployment today you exhaust 26 weeks of
state unemployment benefits you get an additional 13 weeks
of unemployment benefits but no later than december 31st 2020. so what that
means is i don't know hypothetically speaking you
go on unemployment in november right now by the time you exhaust your
26 weeks you already passed december 31st 2020 which means in that case
you're not going to get an additional 13 weeks of peoc so the puc is essentially
intended to help individuals who lost their jobs in
march april may june july you know sort of to give them
to give them state unemployment benefits all the way through december 31st 2020
now i don't want my viewers and my
subscribers to get confused and mix this up with the booster the
boosters on top of all of this the 600 a week booster which has expired
uh which has now been replaced by the 300 a
week lost wages assistance program which is being slowly implemented
across the country that was money on top of
this money because this public health emergency has gone on way longer
way longer than the government originally anticipated with the cares
act so the program covers i'm talking about
the puc program and i'm reading from the department of labor here
the program covers most individuals who have exhausted all rights to regular
unemployment compensation under state of federal law and by the
way this is the important part and who are able to work available for
work and actively seeking work as defined by state law
this is very important so i'm going to repeat this this is very very important
who are able to work available for work and actively seeking work as defined by
state law so you need to be actively looking for a
job you need to be able in other words you
need to be physically able to look for a job and you know you
essentially need to make yourself available to
your existing employer or any other employers in other words they want you
to get back into the workforce you can't uh
if you're not actively looking for a job um
then according to the to the guidelines from the
from the department of labor you are not eligible for the 13-week extension
you are not eligible for the peuc because think about it the government
doesn't want individuals just sitting at home
on unemployment uh you know using funds which by the way ultimately other
taxpayers pay for and which you know um that's you know
that's that's not right so let's get back into this uh
importantly the cares act by the way um let's be clear if
you're looking for a job and you're not able to find a job if you're able to
work i quote willing who if you're able to
work quote available for work and actively seeking work and you're
still not able to find work then you are eligible for puc based on
the guidelines from the department of labor i'm reading out from the
department of labor so make sure you review these these
guidelines yourself by clicking on the link in the description below it says
here importantly the case act gives states
flexibility in determining whether you are actively
seeking work if you are unable to search for work because of the pandemic
including because of illness quarantine or movement restrictions so what
the guideline is saying is the states will decide whether individuals
are quote-unquote actively seeking work so quote-unquote actively seeking
work the states will decide the exact
definition of actively seeking work which again is you know why the work
search requirements uh which are by the way getting more and
more strict uh they are more strict in the lost
wages assistance program compared to the compared to the 600 week federal booster
you already know that hopefully you already know that
i did do another video where i talked about the work search requirements
associated with the lost wages assistance program and on top of that
your state is going to be creating or establishing
their own work search guidelines so make sure you keep that in mind
so your state will decide whether because of the pandemic because of
quarantine because of you know restrictions with your workplace maybe
your workplace is not complying with you know with the safety guidelines
or movement restrictions whether that qualifies you for
whether you're quote unquote actively seeking work so some states may be very
strict with that interpretation other states other states may be maybe
more more flexible with that with that
particular with that particular determination
also by the way now and i did do another video on this now that schools are
starting to reopen some schools are completely digital some
schools are hybrid some schools are open um you know there are now guidelines for
caretakers from the department of labor you'll start to see now
that the country is gradually opening up that you know more and more guidelines
will come in to say hey you know you can get unemployment if
this and this happens if you can't get unemployment of this and this happens
and you should be aware of these guidelines now in addition and again i
hope my subscribers know this but if you don't the good news
the good news is if you have exhausted the 13 weeks of additional benefits
under the peoc program you may be able to receive additional
benefits under the pua program okay you may be able to receive additional
benefits under the pua program the pua benefits are available for a
period of employment of up to 39 weeks the pua benefits available for
period employment up to 39 weeks meaning that if you have
exhausted let's say you got you know you know let's say you got
state unemployment then you've got peoc then you can get the pua program but but
okay let me i'll read out word for word if
you have exhausted regular unemployment compensation and puc
benefits in fewer than 39 weeks okay then you may be eligible to receive
assistance under the pua for the remaining weeks within pua's 39
week period so remember the 39 weeks is not on top of but that 39 is the full
duration so i'll give you a couple of scenarios
let's say scenario one you got state unemployment insurance for let's say 19
weeks throwing out a number and then you added
the third then you got the 13 weeks of puc
19 plus 13 is 29 32 uh yeah that's 32 correct so that leaves
seven weeks so you can get pua for seven weeks
but if you because then that total of 19 plus 13
plus seven i think my math is correct yeah 39
but if you got your state unemployment benefits for 26 weeks
and you got puc for 13 weeks 26 plus 13 is 39 you can't get
pua on top of that okay so i'm going to mention this one more time
if you have exhausted regular unemployment compensation and puc
benefits in fewer than 13 weeks excuse me in fewer than 39 weeks
you may be eligible to receive assistance under pua for the remaining
weeks within puas 39 week period now the pua program was
originally established for individuals who wouldn't normally
qualify for unemployment insurance and this is this is a topic for a different
video but hopefully this gives you a clear idea
of what are your options after state unemployment insurance is exhausted
i will provide you with a link to this to this department of labor guideline in
the description section below so please check it out
thank you so much for watching if you learned something new from this video
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