Pa.: Jobless must wait at least 3-4 weeks for promised $300 in assistance

For some 86,800 unemployed workers in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the $300 check the Trump administration promised in early August probably won’t be in the mail for another three or four weeks, state officials said.

The computer system the state Department of Labor & Industry will use to distribute the weekly Lost Wages Assistance checks to eligible workers should be operational by the end of September, Labor Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said this week.

The state had distributed $15.7 billion in the weekly $600 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation checks through the end of July, when that program ended, Oleksiak said. The need for a new computer system, and the delay in creating one, comes from the change to drawing the weekly $300 Lost Wages Assistance checks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) instead of the U.S. Department of Labor.

President Trump issued an executive order to create the new Lost Wages Assistance program through FEMA, following the breakdown in negotiations with Congress to authorize more money through the former program that was funded by the CARES Act.

As he did last week, Oleksiak again said Congress should reinstate the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program to simplify the process.

To be eligible for the extra federal assistance, the jobless worker must self-report whether they are jobless because of covid-19, said Susan Dickinson, director of the unemployment compensation benefits policy. They also must be collecting at least $100 in other jobless benefits, such as the state’s regular unemployment compensation program or federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for those who are independent contractors or own their own business.

The unemployed will be notified through email or by mail when the state is ready to take applications for the $300 weekly Lost Wage Assistance program, Dickinson said.

Oleksiak offered another sobering fact for those jobless because of covid-19 to consider. The federal government only approved Pennsylvania for $1.5 billion in aid, which would only cover the first three weeks of August. As of yet, the state does not have any of the $44 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to distribute to those still jobless in September.

The Lost Wage Assistance program will end by the end of the year, if it does not run out of money before then, Oleksiak said. “We have to reapply for whatever remains of the ($44 billion) funding,” and “we will be in line like everyone else.”