How to know when your jobless benefits will run out
Congress' failure to extend unemployment benefits means that millions of
Americans will stop receiving checks from the government over the next few weeks
and months.
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
December 2, 2010
Congress couldn't agree to extend unemployment benefits, which means millions
of jobless Americans will stop receiving checks from the government. But the
payments aren't immediately stopping for everyone who receives them — it's more
of a slow fade-out.
So how do you know when you're going to lose your
benefits?
The explanation requires a little background. Typically,
unemployed workers who meet their state's requirements receive 26 weeks of
benefits. But a series of federal extensions granted during the deep economic
downturn increased that number to 99 weeks in California and some other states.
That figure includes four tiers, or extensions, of benefits, and a fifth tier
called FED-ED that is available only in some states with high unemployment
rates, including California.
Since Congress did not authorize further
extensions, unemployed people will not be able to move from one series of
benefits to the next. Here's what that means if you're unemployed:
• If
you have been out of work for a few weeks and are on the first tier of regular
unemployment benefits, you will stop receiving a check after your 26 weeks of
benefits are up. If your first tier expires after Nov. 20, you will not be able
to move onto the next tier.
• If you have been out of work more than 26
weeks and are on your first, second or third tier of benefits, and they expire
after Nov. 27, you will not be able to move onto the next tier. Your checks will
stop coming when you reach the end of your tier.
• If you are on the
FED-ED extension, all of your payments will expire Dec. 11. Your checks will
stop coming then, regardless of the balance you have on your FED-ED
claim.
• If you have just lost your job and qualify for unemployment
benefits, you will receive 26 weeks of benefits, but nothing after
that.
Still confused? California's Employment Development Department has
posted a nifty
chart to help explain.
The Employment Development Department can't
say exactly how many unemployed Californians will stop receiving benefits each
week, but it said that 454,000 could experience a halt in payments by the end of
the year.
The National Employment Law Project says 2 million workers
nationally could lose benefits over the holidays, and an additional 2 million
would be cut off by the end of February.
There is no discussion in
Congress about extending unemployment benefits beyond the maximum 99 weeks that
were available before the extensions expired. About 254,000 unemployed workers
in California have already hit that limit and fallen off the rolls.
Just
extending the existing system is proving difficult. Before Thanksgiving, the
House tried to pass a three-month reauthorization of benefits, but the attempt
failed to gain the two-thirds majority necessary. Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced a bill Monday that would have
reauthorized the programs through the end of 2011, but Sen. Scott Brown
(R-Mass.) on Tuesday objected to allowing the full Senate to vote on the
bill.
Some GOP legislators said they would support an extension, but only
if it was paid for by a reduction in other federal spending, so as not to
increase the deficit.
Some critics said the party was playing politics at
a critical time, potentially putting families onto the streets as temperatures
fall and the holidays approach.
"While CEO compensation soars and the
bubbly is flowing on Wall Street, jobless workers continue to shoulder the
burden of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression," said
Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law
Project.
Separate studies by the U.S. Joint Economic Committee and the
Congressional Budget Office have estimated that the failure to pass unemployment
benefit extensions could drain $80 billion from the economy.
alana.semuels@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times