L&I backs $600 extension, tries to clear air on other benefits
The state Department of Labor & Industry has weighed in on the simmering FPUC fray.
“Gov. (Tom) Wolf and I are urging Congress to extend the $600 benefit,” L&I secretary Jerry Oleksiak said Friday afternoon, referring to the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program. A creation of the CARES Act, FPUC provided a $600 weekly payment to unemployed Americans – on top of other UE benefits they may be receiving as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.
That program expired July 25, however, and both chambers of the U.S. government are working on plans for an extension.
“This is being hotly debated,” the secretary added. “This benefit is important to a lot of Pennsylvanians, and they’re dollars that will be going back into the Pennsylvania economy.”
At a separate news conference Tuesday, Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, both Democrats, likewise encouraged Congress to extend this benefit – quickly.
Oleksiak and Susan Dickinson, L&I’s unemployment compensation benefits policy director, conducted their weekly virtual news conference three days early – and four days after their standard Monday media get-together. (A scheduling issue precludes them from meeting this upcoming Monday.)
There has been confusion and contention over benefits since the pandemic rolled into the state five months ago. Residents are still complaining that they have not received money they believe is due to them.
Oleksiak said 94% of individuals who have filed UC claims are being paid or have been determined to be eligible for benefits. The other 6%, Dickinson said, “is a mix of individuals who are eligible, not eligible or are earning too much.”
Some residents, she said, have had issues with applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. Dickinson referred them to an infographic on the L&I website (www.uc.pa.gov) that lists 10 categories of applicants who are not eligible for PUA and why.
The graphic explains that “PUA is only for individuals who are unemployed due to COVID-19 reasons and does not cover individuals without an attachment to the labor market or those who are unemployed for non-COVID-19 reasons. This benefit is only for individuals who would otherwise be working but are unable to because of the current pandemic.”
Oleksiak also said his department made adjustments in its data “to align more with federal numbers.” He said some FPUC benefits had been counted twice. Among the figures he enumerated: Since March 15, $23.7 billion in UC benefits has been disbursed, including $4.3 billion of regular UC, $15 billion in FPUC and $4.2 billion in PUA.
L&I will have another weekly town hall at 1 p.m. next Thursday. It is open to the public, online or by telephone, by visiting https://access.live/PAlabor or calling 833-380-0719.