DWS News
July 22, 2010

Congress Passes Extension to Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program

SALT LAKE CITY –  Congress passed, and the President signed a six-month retroactive extension to the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program.  The program had recently lapsed on June 2, 2010.  The extension did not provide any additional benefits but rather extended the termination of the federally funded emergency program to November 30, 2010.

The federal EUC program provides three “tiers” of up to 47 weeks of additional unemployment benefits beyond the states maximum 26 weeks of benefits.  Unemployed workers who exhausted their regular state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, or an EUC tier I or II claim, after June 2, 2010 may now qualify for additional EUC benefits.  Over the past seven weeks the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) had sent notices to about 13,000 Utah claimants informing them that they had exhausted their regular UI state benefits or their current “Tier” of EUC and were no longer entitled to any further benefits.  The department will begin notifying any impacted claimants who could potentially be eligible for the EUC retroactive weekly benefits by early next week.  The legislation provides that unemployed workers may get paid EUC benefits for each week they have filed; retroactively back to June 2nd, provided they are otherwise eligible.

The department anticipates that the retroactive EUC extension will create longer call wait times for customers, thus the department will extend their work hours over the next week or two.  Generally, eligible claimants will begin receiving their retroactive benefit payments within two to three days after they have filed their claim, according to Bill Starks, Unemployment Insurance Director. 
 
To get more information or file a claim for EUC benefits, go online or phone the state UI Claims Center.  (Salt Lake/South Davis Counties: 801-526-4400; Weber/North Davis Counties: 801-612-0877; Utah County: 801-375-4067; and elsewhere in the state and out-of-state: 888-848-0688)
 

###DWS###