Congress was still divided Thursday on whether new one-time pandemic payments of $600 to most adults should be boosted to $2,000 instead, but other newly approved relief money — including unemployment aid — is on its way.
The latest $900 billion relief package adds $300 a week in federal cash on top of traditional state jobless benefits — half the $600 stipend that was added between April and July under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
The latest relief also keeps two other CARES-related benefit programs going, one providing unemployment aid for gig workers and the self-employed and another that extends assistance for those who had run out of other aid.
Both those were set to expire the day after Christmas but will now run at least until March 13. Added payments could go out in a matter of days.
So here’s what Utahns expect:
‘Stimulus’ checks
• According to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, those one-off $600 payments for adults and children could hit your bank account via direct deposit as early as this week. For those without an account on file with the IRS, checks were starting to be mailed out Wednesday.
These payments are for folks with annual adjusted gross incomes of up to $75,000 last year or $150,000 a year for married couples. Smaller checks will go to individuals making up to $87,000 yearly, or $174,000 for married couples, on a sliding scale.
Married couples also would get an additional $600 for each child under 17.
Unemployment aid
• The Labor Department and state officials are saying they don’t expect eligible residents will have to skip a week of benefits, even though President Donald Trump delayed signing the relief package into law.
All the same, as of late Tuesday, Utah was still awaiting official guidance from the feds on how “to properly make the payments,” according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Workforce Services. So if you’re getting unemployment week to week, that could mean you miss a payment covering the week ending Jan. 2.
But even if that payment does get bogged down, the department said, you will eventually get the money retroactively in a lump sum — including both belated weekly benefits and any missed $300 payments.
Filing an unemployment claim
• If you’ve been claiming regular or emergency unemployment benefits up until now, you don’t need to take additional action to get the newly approved assistance. The $300 weekly will be added automatically as you continue to file your usual weekly claims for benefits, the department said. But you will need to keep filing those claims each week as you have until now.
The state is still taking 21 to 30 days to process initial claims, too.
New applicants and weekly claimants alike are urged not to call Workforce Services and instead to apply and update their claims online, via http://jobs.utah.gov. If questions on claims do come up, the department says it will contact applicants directly.
Gig workers
• If you’re among nearly 2,100 independent contractors and self-employed Utahns who were getting unemployment week to week under the CARES Act, those benefits should keep flowing, barring that possible one-week interruption.
And now those payments will have the $300 a week added on top.
Previously uncovered by unemployment, “gig economy” workers were first made eligible for benefits under the CARES Act in early April. This latest relief now extends that jobless assistance to a total of 50 weeks or until the program expires March 13.
Extended benefits
• If you’ve exhausted traditional benefits, which typically run for 26 weeks and were on extended benefits under the CARES Act, this relief package will keep your payments going as well, plus the $300 weekly stipend.
Right now, at least 7,000 Utahns fall into this category week to week. The CARES Act added 13 weeks to those benefits, and the latest relief package has now extended those for up to 24 weeks, or also until March 13.
Looking for work?
• State officials initially gave Utahns who had been furloughed in the pandemic a break on looking for other jobs while they collected unemployment benefits, but that’s no longer the case.
Whether you’re seeking unemployment help because you’ve been laid off, furloughed or experiencing pay cuts, to qualify for benefits now, you’ll be encouraged to look for other positions each week, even those outside your typical field of work.
Mark Knold, chief economist at the Department of Workforce Services, has said that Utah’s labor market has proved to be “one of the nation’s best in reemploying workers.” So officials have urged unemployed residents to seek jobs in sectors less damaged by the pandemic.
What if benefits run out?
• Once you’ve run out of both regular and extended unemployment benefits, that’s it for available jobless aid, but there is other help. If you’re in that boat, the state says to apply for other available assistance programs, including government subsidies for food, medical bills, rent and utility costs.
More information and applications for those programs are available at http://jobs.utah.gov.
Follow @tonysemerad