Partner4Work COVID-19 Policy Briefing for April 13, 2020

P4W - COVID-19 Policy Update (04/13/2020) 

On April 2, the US Department of Labor (USDOL) released guidance on the implementation of several key updates to the federal unemployment benefits program under the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020. Last Friday, April 10, Governor Wolf’s office issued a press release on Pennsylvania’s implementation of these updates to unemployment benefits. 

Extended Benefits: Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) (Section 2107)

• Provides up to 13 additional weeks of benefits to individuals who have exhausted their unemployment compensation under state or federal law.
• States must enter into an agreement with USDOL for this program. Additional benefits become available from the start date of this agreement through December 31, 2020.
• Eligible individuals must be available to work, able to work, and actively seeking work (except due to COVID-19 related reasons).
  The April 10 press release from Governor Wolf’s office says the following: “Claimants will be eligible for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) from the week beginning March 29, 2020, through the end of the year. The department is awaiting additional federal guidance about the program and will provide an update when information is available.”

Self-Employed and Gig Workers: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) (Sec. 2102)

• Provides up to 39 weeks of benefits for individuals who would otherwise not qualify for UC under state or federal law (self-employed, independent contractors, gig workers).
• Benefits are available from January 27, 2020 - December 31, 2020.
• Individuals must otherwise be available and able to work, except are unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable or unavailable to work because of COVID-19 related reasons.
• The April 10 press release from Governor Wolf’s office states: “The U.S. Department of Labor requires that PUA be tracked separately from regular UC. For this reason, Pennsylvania must build a new online platform to process PUA benefits. Eligible individuals should be able to start applying for PUA benefits within the next two weeks. Eligible claimants will receive backdated payments to January 27, 2020, or the first week they were unable to work due to COVID-19, whichever of the two dates is later.”

Additional Payments: Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) (Section 2104) 

• Provides an additional $600 per week to individuals who are collecting regular unemployment compensation, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), or benefits through certain other federal programs.
• States must enter into an agreement with USDOL for this program. Additional benefits become available from the start date of this agreement through July 31, 2020.
• In Pennsylvania, UC claimants will not be required to submit any additional information to receive these payments. 
• The April 10 press release from Governor Wolf’s office says: “Today (April 10), L&I issued the first $600 payments. All eligible claimants that filed biweekly claims for the week ending April 4 and who received their regular UC payment should expect to see the additional money either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week (April 14 or 15). For other eligible claimants who have not yet received a regular UC payment, they will receive the extra $600 the week after receiving their first UC payment.”

  Short-Time Compensation (STC) (Sec. 2108)

• STC (also known as Shared Work or Work Share): A layoff aversion program where an employer reduces the hours for a group of workers to avoid layoffs and these workers receive a partial unemployment benefit payment.

• Under the CARES Act, states with existing STC programs may be reimbursed for 100 percent of STC benefit costs, up to a maximum of 26 weeks of STC per individual.

• The CARES Act also includes $100 million in funding for implementation or improved administration, and promotion and enrollment of a state’s STC program.

• Under Pennsylvania’s shared work program, employers can reduce hours for a group of workers by between 20-40 percent. For each week included in the plan, a worker receives a percentage of the UC weekly benefit amount equal to the reduction percentage. For example, if the full benefit amount for a week would have been $400 and the worker’s hours are reduced by 20 percent under the plan, the worker would receive 20 percent of $400 or $80 in Shared-Work UC.