PA Begins Roll Out Of $600 Weekly Federal Unemployment Payments

HARRISBURG, PA — Federal unemployment benefits provided through a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package passed last month by congress are now available to Pennsylvania residents, Gov. Tom Wolf announced.

Under the federal relief package, workers will be paid an additional $600 per week. Benefits are extended for an additional 13 weeks, and compensation is available for self-employed workers, as well as independent contractors and gig workers.

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More than 1.2 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment since March 15, when the health emergency began to cause closures of non-essential businesses. As of Friday, Pennsylvania had just under 20,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Statewide, there have been 416 COVID-19 deaths as of Friday.

The federal benefits are in addition to Pennsylvania’s regular unemployment benefit, which is about half of a person’s full-time weekly income up to $572 per week for 26 weeks.

According to information from the governor's office, the additional $600 a week will be available for the week ending in April 4, going through the week ending July 25. The first $600 payments were issued Friday, state officials said.

According to the state office of Labor and Industry:

• All eligible claimants that filed biweekly claims for the week ending April 4 and who received their regular UC payment should expect to see the additional money either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
• For other eligible claimants who have not yet received a regular UC payment, they will receive the extra $600 the week after receiving their first UC payment.

Additionally, "It is very important to note that anyone who currently has federal withholding tax taken out of their benefits will see the same 10 percent reduction in the FPUC payment, resulting in a $540 payment."

If you need to change your withholding election, visit L&I’s Taxes on Benefits page.

The $600 is paid separately from the biweekly Unemployment Compensation benefit. Additional information and answers to common questions can be found here.

Those who are self-employed, independent contractors, and gig economy workers eligible for benefits under the federal program cannot apply through the state department’s online system.

"The U.S. Department of Labor requires that Pandemic Unemployment Assistance be tracked separately from regular Unemployment Compensation. For this reason, Pennsylvania must build a new online platform to process Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits," information from the governor's office said.

Eligible individuals should be able to start applying for the federal assistance "within the next two weeks," the state said. The Department of Labor and Industry said it will announce when the PUA benefit application is available.

Those eligible will receive backdated payments to Jan. 27, or the first week they were unable to work due to COVID-19, whichever of the two dates is later. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefit will end Dec. 31.

Last month, Gov. Wolf signed a law intended to make applying for unemployment compensation easier by waiving the one-week waiting period. The job search and work registration requirements have also been waived due to the pandemic.

>>>Full coverage of coronavirus in Pennsylvania