Despite the delay in President Donald Trump’s signing of the new stimulus package, workers who were receiving unemployment benefits will have a short period of time to receive their new check.
The U.S. Department of Labor said they should not have to wait too long to receive money from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs.
Unemployment experts and lawmakers have said that because Trump signed the legislation on Sunday rather than Saturday, when unemployment benefits ended, people on PUA and PEUC may only lose a week’s worth of payments.
Despite the delay, this is good news for the more than 14 million people who received unemployment benefits through these programs. According to the Department of Labor, the unemployed will receive 11 full weeks of benefits that will last until March 14, 2021.
$300 extra dollars
Workers who receive unemployment program benefits will also be eligible to receive an extra $300 in weekly benefits from the federal government during the 11 weeks that began on Saturday, December 26 and will end before March 14, 2021, a spokesperson told CNBC.
Some states are already processing that aid to make the delay as short as possible. The states operate their own unemployment systems independently, so the resources will arrive on different dates.