The Department of Labor & Industry is hosting a live virtual town hall on Thursday, June 11, 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 this should 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, nearly $14.2 billion in benefits has been paid to claimants: $7.7 billion from regular UC; $5.4 billion from FPUC; $993 million from PUA; and $69 million from PEUC.
Since March 15, 2.5 million total unemployment compensation claims have been filed: 2 million for regular UC; and 526,000 for PUA.
To improve customer service, L&I UC staff has worked more than 110,000 overtime hours since mid-March. UC service center staffing levels have also increased 80 percent since March 15: L&I added 312 new employees, bringing the total of UC service center staff to 1,491; and added 358 additional state employees who have been reassigned from other offices/agencies to assist in UC. A total of 220,000 calls have been answered by IBM Watson, an automated virtual phone assistant that answers many common UC questions.
Frequently asked questions can be found at the following links:
– Regular UC
– Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
– Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
– Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
Recordings of prior public town halls are available here. Additional unemployment benefits information is available on L&I’s website.
