LANSING, Mich. — Last week, the director of Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency said the extra $300 federal boost should be going out this week. Now it looks like it will take a little more time.
The agency says it's started processing payments for Lost Wages Assistance. Due to the large volume of payments to be processed, workers will begin receiving LWA payments over the next week to ten days.
The money is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency following an executive order from President Trump. Lawmakers approved the state appropriations last week and Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the bill earlier this week.
To be eligible for the $300, a claimant’s weekly benefit amount must be at least $100 before deductions.
“Initially, eligible claimants will receive LWA for the benefit weeks ending Aug. 1, Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, 2020,” said UIA Director Steve Gray, “An estimated 910,000 claimants will receive these much-needed additional benefits.”
From UIA:
Workers do not have to file a separate claim or application for LWA. To qualify, claimants must self-certify whether they are unemployed due to COVID-19. For claimants who have already provided a self-certification on their claim filing application, no further action is needed to qualify. Also, all unemployed workers receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) have already completed this step.
Claimants who need to self-certify will receive notification to answer a question in their MiWAM account starting this week. If a claimant has chosen to receive US mail, notification will be mailed.
UIA has applied for all available weeks of benefits which will be payable until the week ending September 5.
