Wisconsin not planning to seek repayment on $300 federal benefit
Wisconsin residents receiving an extra $300 in federal unemployment benefits won’t be required to repay the money unless directed by the federal government, the Department of Workforce Development said.
The state was notified Friday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that there is no reason to believe the benefits would have to be paid back, according to an email to the department.
The confusion over repayment of the benefit began after the department put a question on its weekly unemployment filing site asking recipients to acknowledge they may have to pay the benefit back if Congress enacted a new stimulus program. Those filling out the form had to answer “yes” to the question to be able to submit their weekly filing.
FEMA sought to clarify the benefits because there was concern that the question would lead to unemployed Wisconsinites not filing for unemployment assistance they needed, the email said.
Ben Jedd, the communications specialist for the department said the question was included to be transparent, so recipients weren’t surprised if they were notified the money had to be returned.
The program was confusing for both the state and unemployment filers, Jedd said, because there was little guidance available on how the program would work. It was unclear if those receiving the benefits would be required to repay them if a stimulus program passed by Congress provided a second payment of benefits for the weeks the order covered, he said.
But as of now, it doesn’t look like a stimulus package would be retroactive to the weeks covered by the executive order, even if one is passed.
The $300 is a part of the Lost Wages Assistance program established by President Donald Trump in an August executive order, which authorized $44 billion from the FEMA’s disaster relief fund to be used for unemployment.
Currently, the benefit is available for six weeks and is retroactive to Aug. 1. The additional money likely won’t start going out to unemployment recipients until October, though, because the department has to code its system to pay out the money.