[ad_1]
Nearly 500,000 New Jersey workers will have their jobless claims expire on Dec. 26 unless Congress passes a stimulus bill that includes unemployment benefits. And thousands more who have been collecting since March will soon run out of extensions.
But the state is set to step in and provide eight weeks of emergency unemployment insurance benefits starting Monday through February 27, 2021, after a bill passed unopposed by the legislature on Thursday. .
The bill, S3283, will now head to Gov. Phil Murphy, who has criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) And Congress for the deadlock blocking a stimulus package that could include relief for the unemployed .
Workers in New Jersey who have exhausted their state or federal benefits, including PUA claimants who typically cannot claim unemployment, would be eligible for the new bill. Claimants will receive the same amount as their weekly benefit rate.
“As Congress is still negotiating a new stimulus bill and unemployment benefits begin to run out, we must act immediately to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of workers who are out of work because of of the pandemic can continue to feed their families ”. said Senator Dawn Marie Addiego (D-Burlington), the main sponsor of the bill.
For some claimants who have been receiving unemployment benefits since the week of March 15, the day New Jersey effectively closed its doors to fight the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, their benefits will expire on Friday.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracking | Bulletin | Home page
And about 312,000 residents who receive the PUA, which offers benefits to performing workers, independent contractors and freelancers, will have their benefits expire on Dec. 26 if Congress does not pass a stimulus bill, the said. state labor department.
It is not known how many residents this bill would affect. The Labor Department declined to comment on pending legislation, the type of programming the bill would require the agency to create and whether it would be able to hold it up by Monday.
Previously, the agency pointed out that it takes time to build infrastructure for a new benefit program, such as the additional $ 600 unemployment checks funded by the CARES Act and the Lost Wage Assistance payments of $ 300 funded by FEMA.
Since mid-March, more than 1.86 million New Jersey workers have applied for unemployment benefits and more than 1.5 million have received at least one payment. Yet there are tens of thousands of residents who have not received any benefits and are still stuck in a massive backlog due to technological hurdles.
This is the second unemployment bill passed in recent weeks to help unemployed New Jersey people, who continue to regularly file new unemployment claims as the state’s unemployment rate rose again in November at 10.2%.
Earlier in December, Murphy signed legislation expanding eligibility for the 20-week benefit extension, which made 2,000 claimants eligible for the extension.
New Mexico, Minnesota and Colorado have already passed similar legislation. New Jersey previously created similar state-funded emergency unemployment extensions, for 10 weeks in 2001 and 2002 and for 13 weeks between 1991 and 1996.
This bill would be free for employers and would be replaced by federal funding if a new stimulus package includes similar programs.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Sophie Nieto-Munoz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on @snietomunoz.
Do you have any advice? Tell us. nj.com/tips
[ad_2]
Source link