PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the nearly half-million Pennsylvanians who were self-employed or gig workers, the program to file for unemployment is back up and running.
But this time through Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), those applicants may need to provide more documentation of past wages and contracts to ensure the amount they are owed. The added documentation was written into the federal extension because of fraudulent PUA claims made across the country.
Department of Labor and Industry officials say you can now backdate the past 11 missed weeks by following the same process on the dashboard as before. However, you must file by January 29, or you’ll have to email the office and be delayed longer.
If you are new to the program, you will have to file a new claim in the dashboard system.
Anyone on unemployment will get the extra $300 a week.
Beginning Sunday, according to department officials, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program extension will be available.
That means people on unemployment can file for the additional 11 weeks. Anyone who had the original 13 weeks left over on December 26 will also receive the additional 11 weeks.
If you were being paid on the Pennsylvania’s Extended Benefits program before December 26, you must complete your benefits before the additional 11 weeks of PEUC can be added to your claim.
The PUA program is not up and running yet in New Jersey, but labor officials in the Garden State say they have now started to dole out the extra $300, which should be hitting bank accounts soon.