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The Oregon employment department said Friday it would not be caught up with payments to self-employed workers by the end of this week, missing a self-imposed deadline.
The delays relate to Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a social benefits program created by Congress last March and extended in December. Oregon had promised to deliver late payments by Friday, but now says some benefits will be delayed indefinitely.
“We sincerely apologize for any confusion and delay in the payment of PUA benefits,” the ministry said in a letter to applicants on Friday. “We know you need and we rely on your benefits and are committed to delivering them to you.”
The employment department says it currently pays 46,000 PUA applications. Friday’s delay applies to people whose PUA claims would lapse without the extension approved by Congress in December.
The employment department said the delay immediately affected 10,000 people whose PUA applications had expired, and some of the other 10,000 who had depleted their PUA clams and did not receive benefits while the state rescheduled its PUA clams. computers to accommodate extensions.
The state said people seeking benefits should continue to file their weekly claims to avoid further delays. The employment department said it now hopes to have retroactive payments paid and in the system by Thursday.
Once state computers are programmed to pay overdue claims, the department said it would take at least a week for retroactive benefits to appear as paid claims in Oregon’s online system.
All categories of Oregon unemployment benefits suffered huge delays last year as the employment department grappled with an unprecedented volume of laid-off workers during the pandemic. Oregon’s claims system dates back to the 1990s, and the state has repeatedly delayed an upgrade, although it received $ 86 million in federal funds to pay for a replacement in 2009.
The state still has most of this money and intends to use it to help fund an upgrade that is expected to be in place in 2025.
Earlier this week, the ministry settled a class action lawsuit over the delays and agreed to be more accommodating and transparent about the status of claims.
– Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway |
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