Unemployed due to COVID-19? New CARES Act funds are on the way, Reeves says
Money from the CARES Act could hit Mississippians’ bank accounts as soon as this weekend, Gov. Tate Reeves said at a Thursday press conference.
Mississippi also will be one of the first five states in the country to start distributing that money, he said.
The federal coronavirus relief bill provides additional money for people who are unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, news broke that over 6 million Americans filed for unemployment for the second week in a row.
Reeves said 87,000 Mississippians have filed in the past four weeks. Before the coronavirus affected businesses in the state, unemployment claims for one week were less than 1,000, then grew to 5,500, then 32,000 and now 45,000.
The state Department of Employment Security has been overwhelmed with calls.
“Workers are unable to get in to file,” Reeves said. “It is happening everywhere, it is happening here as well.”
Two MDES officials were at Thursday’s press conference to detail how the agency is expanding capabilities to help meet the need, and also to detail several new programs that provide money to unemployed people during the pandemic.
These are the steps MDES is taking, according to Reeves and Executive Director Jackie Turner:
▪ Contracted with a private company to set up a new call center with 100 seats for customer service representatives
▪ Hired an additional 100 workers and 100 temporary workers, and reassigned staff to customer service
▪ Updating technology, which takes time, Turner said
▪ Extended hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
▪ Waived the one-week waiting period and 90-day waiting period for retired workers
▪ Asked for an executive order to suspend some other requirements
“I realize none of that helps if you can’t get through,” Reeves said. “But we’re working every day to make it right.”
How to access CARES Act money
The bill created the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) fund, which gives $600 to each person who qualifies.
Turner and Reeves said those already receiving unemployment assistance could automatically see the extra $600 as early as Friday, April 10.
“It may hit your debit card as soon as tomorrow,” the governor said Thursday.
The CARES Act also is designed to help people who don’t qualify for normal unemployment assistance. However, the state is still waiting on federal guidance on how to process those claims.
“The bottleneck there is in Washington not Mississippi,” Reeves said.
Turner said the MDES website, www.mdes.ms.gov, is designed around the normal, pre-pandemic unemployment requirements, so when someone who has been laid off because of COVID-19 applies on the site, it might say they don’t qualify. But she said the agency is keeping track of all claims filed and will still contact those who qualify for the new programs.
She said MDES prefers people wait to file until the agency announces the new process is in place, but either option is available.
“The preferred method will be that you wait,” she said.
Reeves also reminded those who are unemployed that regardless of when claims are filed, money will be provided retroactively from when they lost their job.
Other COVID-19 unemployment programs
FPUC is not the only assistance available. Timothy Rush, who leads the MDES Unemployment Assistance Program, detailed the other new programs under the CARES Act.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is very similar to the state’s existing Disaster Unemployment Assistance, which is available after major hurricanes and tornadoes.
It is also for people who would not otherwise qualify for unemployment money, but he said under state law people still have to apply for normal benefits first.
PUA provides from $106 to $235 a week for 39 weeks, from Jan. 27 until the end of December.
The amount you get is determined by what you would have earned during the pandemic, based on the previous calendar year. You have to provide proof of earnings, such as a 1099 form, a tax return, copy of bank statements, etc.
Who qualifies for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits?
Rush listed examples of people who would not normally qualify for unemployment benefits who are eligible for coronavirus relief. They are people who:
- are self-employed
- work for a faith-based organization
- have been diagnosed with COVID-19, have a family member in their house with COVID-19, or who provide care to someone with COVID-19
- can’t work because they’re providing childcare while schools are closed
- are unable to report to work because of shelter-in-place orders
- are unable to report to work because they are self-quarantined
- were scheduled to start a new job and are not working
- are breadwinners or heads of household impacted by COVID-19
- have quit their job as a result of COVID-19
- have an employer that has closed because of COVID-19
- are seeking part-time work as a self employed worker
What if you were already unemployed?
A third program is Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which would help people who were already unemployed and had run out of benefits.
It provides an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance for individuals who have exhausted their regular benefits.
In Mississippi, the maximum total benefit is $6,110.
Those who qualify for PEUC also would qualify for the $600 available under the FPUC.
What about employers?
The CARES Act gives states the flexibility to waive or suspend unemployment requirements.
Employers pay a tax to the state that covers the cost of a former employee drawing benefits. Rush said the state could consider delaying or relieving employers of those charges and instead dip into the state’s trust fund, which he said is the fourth most solvent in the nation.
Rush said the state is considering allowing businesses to either delay or not pay their quarterly taxes.
He also said the state could consider waiving the requirement that people be actively looking for work.
“We may be relaxing some of those requirements so that individuals who are accustomed to getting out and going from place to place applying for work may not have to expose themselves to coronavirus,” Rush said.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
