Pennsylvania to send 5 weeks of $300 checks to eligible jobless

Pennsylvania will start distributing $1,500 in federal unemployment compensation to those without a job since the beginning of August because of the covid-19 pandemic.

“Everybody who is currently receiving unemployment (compensation), with very few exceptions, will qualify for that benefit,” state Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said Tuesday.

Unemployed workers should start getting the lump sum benefits — $300 a week for five weeks in August and the first week in September — early next week, department officials said. The $300 weekly checks under the Lost Wages Assistance Program replace the $600 checks distributed through the federal CARES Act funding that expired at the end of July.

To be eligible, the jobless must certify once that they lost their job or remain unemployed because of covid-19. They also must have a weekly benefit rate and dependent allowance totaling $100 or more of some type of unemployment compensation.

The state received $2.4 billion of the $44 billion the Federal Emergency Management Agency set aside for unemployment compensation, Oleksiak said. When that money is exhausted, the state will apply for more aid the Trump administration implemented Aug. 8. But, without any agreement from Congress on extending special jobless benefits to those unemployed because of covid-19, the aid will end when the money runs out or Dec. 31, whichever comes first, Oleksiak said.

In Pennsylvania, almost 600,000 workers filed unemployment compensation claims the last week in August, including about 58,570 in Allegheny County and 45,280 in Westmoreland, according to the labor department. If all 600,000 were eligible for five weeks of aid, the state would distribute about $90 million in this first round of funding under the program.

The state is not certain how many people already applied for the federal Lost Wages Assistance, Oleksiak said.

One jobless worker who has been patiently waiting for the resumption of the federal pandemic unemployment compensation is Barbara Rathmann of West Deer, who lost her job as assistant manager for the Wildwood Highlands Entertainment Complex in Hampton, when it closed in December.

Rathmann said she still is receiving unemployment compensation through the 13-week extension of federal aid, which will expire in a few weeks. But she wants to get back to work.

“Although I am 69 years old, I am not someone who wants to sit around and collect unemployment checks. I loved working with our young employees and serving our customers and their families,” Rathmann said.