Governor Hogan last week announced that the Maryland Department of Labor has started to accept claims and issue payments for federal unemployment insurance programs that were extended under the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PEUC), and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) unemployment insurance programs were recently extended by the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act.
From the press release:
“Just one week after the federal COVID-19 relief package was signed into law, Maryland is one of the first states in the nation to have already programmed and implemented all three of the extended unemployment insurance programs,” said Governor Hogan. “Our team has been working around the clock to bring this much-needed financial relief to unemployed Marylanders as we continue to navigate this public health and economic crisis.”
All claimants will receive an email specifying whether they should file their weekly claim certification, reopen their claim, or reapply for benefits for the week ending January 2, 2021 in their BEACON 2.0 portal. All claimants who are eligible to receive benefits, including regular unemployment insurance claimants, will automatically receive the new FPUC amount of $300 in their benefit payment beginning the week ending January 2, 2021. If determined eligible for benefits, claimants will begin receiving payment this week.
“After the federal legislation was signed into law and our department received the necessary guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, we were able to reprogram the BEACON 2.0 system as quickly as possible for our claimants,” said Labor Secretary Tiffany P. Robinson. “We are thrilled to announce that claimants can begin filing for the extended federal unemployment insurance programs and will not experience a gap in eligibility or delay in payment.
Approximately $43 million from the FPUC program, $25 million from the PUA program, and $11 million from the PEUC program have already been paid to claimants.
Stay tuned to Conduit Street for the latest.