CARES Act benefits set to end Dec. 31
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From staff reports
ATLANTA – As the Georgia Department of Labor anticipates a decision on the future of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress continues to debate the specifics of funding allocation and program timeframes. On Dec. 31, all federal CARES Act unemployment insurance (UI) programs are scheduled to end. After the program’s end, the GDOL will not be able to continue to pay benefits for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The last week payable for PUA and PEUC is the week ending Dec. 26 for individual-filed claims and the week ending date Dec. 30 for employer-filed claims.
“There is no use speculating over what could potentially be passed by Congress, and at this point, we still have not heard anything from our delegation on what is actually in the bill,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a news release. “While Congress continues to deliberate on the future of these programs, we will focus on issuing payments to all eligible Georgians as the original CARES Act comes to a close.”
Claimants receiving regular state UI will continue to receive benefits for weeks they are found eligible up to 26 weeks. Claimants who have yet to exhaust all benefits provided by the CARES Act will not receive the balance of their funds for any week ending dates after Dec. 26. Claimants are encouraged to continue to request benefits after the programs end in the event Congress passes new legislation or extends these programs. If additional federal legislation is passed, the new programs will be implemented or current programs extended and updates will be made on the GDOL website and social platforms.
The GDOL has paid $16.3 billion in state and federal benefits since the beginning of the pandemic in March of this year. Last week, the GDOL issued $161 million in benefits, which include regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, and State Extended Benefits.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 345,553 PUA claims have been processed. Due to federal guidelines, the PUA program is limited to 39 weeks of benefits. Claimants who began receiving benefits at the beginning of the program are now exhausting those benefits with no extension currently in place.
Of the more than 166,000 jobs currently listed on EmployGeorgia, more than half advertise annual salaries that exceed $40,000. The GDOL offers online resources for finding career opportunities, building a resume, and assisting with other re-employment needs.
Resources for re-employment assistance along with information on filing an unemployment claim and details on how employers can file partial claims can be found on the agency’s web page at dol.georgia.gov.
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