Pa. warns jobless: Apply for $1,800 checks before money runs out

For some of Pennsylvania’s 616,000 jobless workers, an $1,800 lump-sum check for six weeks of unemployment may never be in the mail because the special unemployment aid could be used up before they get the money, state Labor department officials warned Monday.

The likelihood the state will be unable to give all covid-related jobless workers money under the federal Lost Wages Assistance program “is a real possibility,” Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said.

The state has $2.8 billion from the Lost Wages Assistance program to give to those eligible jobless at a rate of $300 a week for six weeks, dating to the beginning of August, Oleksiak said. Pennsylvania saw 616,000 jobless workers file claims for unemployment compensation as of the week of Sept. 5, including about 63,000 in Allegheny County and 16,000 in Westmoreland County.

“When the money is gone, it is gone,” Oleksiak said.

The Trump administration announced Sept. 11 the Lost Wages Assistance program was ending, even though it was projected to last until the end of the year. The president instituted the $300-a-week benefit to the jobless Aug. 8 after congressional Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement on a second round of stimulus funding. In the initial stimulus measure, unemployed workers received $600 a week from the CARES Act, until it expired at the end of July.

Pennsylvania started processing the claims for the $300-a-week checks last week and will be distributing the money this week, said Susan Dickinson, director of unemployment compensation benefits policy.

“So far, we are OK,” Dickinson said.

The state has a few months to pay all of the claims under the Low Wages Assistance program, Dickinson said.

Oleksiak has warned in the past few weeks the money — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the weekly jobless benefits — may not last until the end of the year.

People are confused that they have to certify that they remain jobless because of covid-19 and are worried they won’t get any money, said Barney Oursler, director of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee in Homestead, which helps workers navigate the unemployment compensation system.

Many low-wage workers in retail and the hospitality industry can’t qualify for the $300 weekly check because many do not receive $100 a week in unemployment compensation, which is a requirement to get the federal aid, Oursler said. The state has the option of supplementing a worker’s benefits if they were not receiving $100 in jobless aid, but it has not done that because it must borrow $800 billion from the federal government to keep its jobless fund afloat.