State updates pandemic jobless programs

The state Department of Labor & Industry on Monday clarified updates it recently implemented for two of its pandemic-related unemployment programs.

The department said the updates were made over the weekend to the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programs and were made necessary after the two programs expired at the end of December but resumed again on Jan. 24 as part of federal CARES Act extensions.

“While L&I has fixed many of the issues we experienced with the ... extension implementations, there are a few remaining problems that our dedicated team is working around the clock to resolve,” said Jennifer Berrier, the departments acting secretary, in a statement.

The department said its focus with the PEUC program was on the following:

● updating the system to allow a subset of claimants who have been unable to file since Dec. 26 to claim their eligible weeks.

● to move a small segment of claimants who were put on the state’s Extended Benefits program back into the PEUC program after the pause in the CARES Act benefits.

The state said it has made more than $32 million in payments to claimants.

With an 11-week extension, the PEUC program adds a total of 24 weeks onto the regular Unemployment Compensation program, the state said.

The PUA program exists to assist workers not eligible for regular unemployment compensations. Those include gig workers, freelancers and self-employed workers, the state said. Since the PUA program was reopened on Jan. 22, nearly $150 million in payments have been made.

The department said it will focus on the following areas with the PUA program:

● trying to fix a residency issues that some claimants are having.

● adding 2020 claims to people who applied after Jan. 1.

● alleviating wait times in the PUA website’s “waiting room.”

Anyone seeking information or having issues with the PEUC or PUA programs should send an email to ucpua@pa.gov. You are required to provide a short description of your problem, you name as it appears on the claim, and the last four digits of your Social Security number.

To avoid being scammed, the department said it will never contact you and ask for your full Social Security number or unemployment claim number.