L&I preparing for Trump’s $300 jobless payments
The pursuit of extra financial relief for Pennsylvanians unemployed because of the pandemic presents a double quandary for Labor & Industry secretary Jerry Oleksiak.
In the midst of a D.C. deadlock on extending the $600-a-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, President Donald Trump recently signed a memorandum that will provide a federally funded weekly payment of $300. It is called the Lost Wages Assistance program, and states have the option of kicking in another $100 per week in a plan to replace FPUC, which expired at the end of July.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency would make the $300 payments, which, according to the secretary, L&I and the Wolf administration will pursue.
One major challenge, however, is L&I would have to install a new computer system to distribute the funds, which could take weeks and further delay payments. A second challenge: Where would the money eventually come from?
The state had $3.4 billion in its UC trust fund at the beginning of 2020. That fund, Oleksiak said Tuesday, has dropped to $556.6 million. Gov. Tom Wolf is seeking a no-interest federal loan to help pay the benefits.
“It could take a month or more to get the system ready,” Oleksiak said during L&I’s weekly WebEx news briefing, accompanied by Susan Dickinson, the unemployment compensation benefits policy director.
His department has experience in launching a system from scratch, having done so shortly after the pandemic hit the state in March. That system was needed to accommodate the newly created federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, and it took a few weeks to fully implement.
The computer system that handles L&I’s regular UC system was installed in the 1970s, and is experiencing a reboot.
Oleksiak said his department is “preparing” to join the LWA program, while working with the state’s FEMA office and the U.S. Department of Labor.
The secretary, however, is not enamored of the plan. “This is a Band-Aid rather than a long-term solution. We need Congress to do the right thing and extend the ($600 weekly FPUC) benefits.”
L&I has distributed more than Band-Aids, to be sure. From March 15 through July 11, according to Oleksiak, the department has paid out $24.7 billion overall: $4.6 billion in regular UC; $15.5 billion in FPUC; and $4.4 billion in PUA.
L&I will have its 13th weekly town hall at 1 p.m. Thursday. It is open to the public, online or by telephone, by visiting https://access.live/PAlabor or calling 833-380-0719.