The Alabama Department of Labor announced Monday that Alabamians who have exhausted all other unemployment benefits will be eligible for the Extended Benefits (EB) program.
To qualify for the Extended Benefits program an individual must have gone through both the normal 14 weeks of unemployment provided for by the State of Alabama and the additional 13 weeks provided by the federal government as part of the CARES Act in March.
All recipients of the EB program in July will be paid the extra $600 per week the federal government began attaching to unemployment claims as part of the CARES Act; however that additional amount is scheduled to cease by July 31.
The Extended Benefits program is a federal project offered only when a state’s insured unemployment rate goes over 5.9%. The last time it was offered in Alabama was during the Great Recession of 2008.
The 13-week extension of normal unemployment paid for by the federal government is called the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.
EB will start being available to eligible unemployed Alabamians on July 5.
Once the extra $600 from the federal government stops being added the EB program will pay the standard unemployment benefit amount for Alabama, which is $275 per week.
Per the Department of Labor, “Claimants must not be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits in another state or Canada, must have no disqualifications, have qualifying wages, and must have at least one week in the benefit year that begins in an EB eligibility period.”
ADOL will notify those eligible for EB benefits via the online UI Claims Tracker and by mail. Claimants will not have to apply for these benefits but should continue to file weekly certifications, per the department.
The department added, “Individuals are only entitled to benefits if they are no longer working through no fault of their own and they MUST be able and available for work. The EB program has more stringent work search requirements and requires claimants to engage in a ‘systematic and sustained’ effort to obtain work during each week and to provide evidence of efforts. Due to the pandemic, the submission of required work search contacts has been TEMPORARILY waived due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, claimants should continue to look for work where possible, and maintain a record of their efforts on a weekly basis. This waiver may end at any time. Once this waiver ends, claimants will be required to provide a minimum of three (3) work search contacts each week during the weekly certification process.”
A detailed information sheet on who can received Extended Benefits can be accessed here.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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