The Department of Labor & Industry is hosting a live virtual town hall on Thursday, June 4, from 1 to 2 p.m., to share information about Pennsylvania’s regular unemployment compensation and other new COVID-19-related benefits programs.
A livestream for people with smart devices or computer access will be online at access.live/PAlabor. Those without internet access can listen by calling 1-833-380-0719, however access is limited, so L&I asks that this be reserved for individuals who need it.
Participants will be able to ask questions live during the town hall. At the beginning of the event, the moderator will explain how to submit questions. To protect participants’ personal confidential information, questions about individual claims cannot be answered during the town hall.
Pennsylvania recently implemented all of the new programs under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act:
– Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – for self-employed, gig workers, contractors and others not normally eligible for UC
– Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – additional 13 weeks of benefits to people who exhaust their regular UC
– Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – extra $600 per week for anyone receiving unemployment benefits
Since mid-March, more than $12.3 billion in benefits has been paid to claimants: $6.9 billion from regular UC; $4.6 billion from FPUC; $783 million from PUA; and $11 million from PEUC.
Since March 15, 2.4 million total unemployment compensation claims have been filed: 2 million for regular UC; and 452,000 for PUA.
L&I UC staff has worked more than 100,000 overtime hours since March 15. UC staffing levels have also increased since mid-March: 312 new staff hired, bringing the total number of UC staff to 1,491; and 358 additional state employees have been reassigned from other offices/agencies to assist in UC. A total of 208,000 calls have been answered by IBM Watson, an automated virtual phone assistant that answers many common UC questions.
A recording of the UC public town hall from Thursday, May 28 is available here. Additional unemployment benefits information is available here.
