Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency is rapidly implementing plans to process and pay an extension in federal benefits to some 69,500 unemployed workers in one to two weeks.
Nationwide, some 2.5 million people ran out of benefits in the nearly two months it took Congress to extend the benefits. Getting money into the hands of those whose benefits expired will be an uneven process, depending on the efficiencies of different state agencies. Reports indicate that Michigan, however, ranks near the top of all states in readiness.
"We have teams of staff ready to process claims for the federal extensions and estimate that within two weeks, we should have most if not all federal unemployment benefit payments in the hands of those who are eligible for them," UIA Director Stephen Geskey said in the final hours before Congress and President Obama broke a political stalement and approved the benefits through November.
Geskey explained that there are two main groups that are affected by the restoration of the federal jobless benefits 1) 9,500 unemployed workers who exhausted their state unemployment benefits but did so after the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and Extended Benefit (EB) programs had expired. 2) 60,000 unemployed workers who had been receiving EB until that program ended with the week ending July 3.
"For the 9,500 who exhausted their state benefits since July 3, we will be sending letters to them with special instructions on how and when to apply for the federal extensions," Geskey explained. "For the 60,000 group, they simply need to continue contacting our MARVIN system once every two weeks. And in cases where they may have stopped contacting MARVIN when their benefits were halted, UIA staff will contact these individuals directly for the information needed to pay them for any back weeks of unemployment to which they are entitled."
UIA expects to have payments issued to these two groups over the next two weeks, including any retroactive payments back to the week ending July 10. The benefits will either be added to the individual's UI debit card or deposited in their bank account.
"If an individual doesn't receive a payment or is not contacted by the agency within the next two weeks, then that person should contact the UIA by dialing our toll-free claims line at 1-866-500-0017 and selecting option #3 to speak with one of our staff," Geskey said.
Those who exhaust their state unemployment benefits will now be able to apply for a federal benefit extension, while those currently collecting federal benefits through one of the four tiers of EUC will continue to collect those benefits. They will then be able to move onto the next EUC tier or EB if they exhaust their current benefits and are still unemployed. Those with EB claims will be able to collect the remaining weeks on their claims.
The EUC program has four tiers of federal benefits.
Tier 1 - provides up to 20 weeks
Tier 2 - provides up to 14 weeks
Tier 3 - provides up to 13 weeks
Tier 4 - provides up to 6 weeks
Those who exhaust EUC Tier 4 may then qualify for up to 20 weeks of benefits through the Extended Benefit program. The combination of state and federal benefits totals up to 99 weeks in Michigan.
Geskey noted one change in the new legislation:
"[It]does not provide any new benefit programs or additional weeks of unemployment benefits beyond the 99 weeks now available in Michigan," Geskey said, "and it eliminates the $25 per week supplement payment called Federal Unemployment Compensation for those filing new state claims."
The FAC payment will not be available to those who file new claims for state unemployment benefits after May 29, 2010. However, those currently collecting the extra $25 per week will continue to do so until they exhaust all of their unemployment benefits or until the week ending December 11, 2010, whichever comes first.
The newly restored federal EUC and EB benefits will expire on Nov. 30, 2010.
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