Covid Unemployment is Over
Unemployment provisions that were put in place due to Covid are now over.
The final week was the week ending 9/5/2021. This is for New York – many other states stopped participating in these programs earlier on.
See more regarding the expiring programs here.
The expiring programs are:
- PUA (Special Covid Unemployment for those who are not eligible for standard Unemployment)
- PEUC (Additional weeks of Unemployment that was added on to the standard 26 weeks for those who were on regular Unemployment)
- FPUC ($600/$300 Federal bonus)
- MEUC ($100 Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation)
- EB (Extended Benefits) added weeks to the standard 26 weeks when a State has high unemployment.
- This program is not connected to Covid and is still available. However, NY is no longer eligible due to the levels of Unemployment dropping – other states may still have EB. Read more about EB at ChaiPlus1.com
New Claims
If you are trying to submit a new claim after September 5, 2021, here are the options:
- Covid Unemployment – New Eligibility
- If you only became eligible for Unemployment after September 5th AND you are only eligible for Unemployment because of the Covid provisions (e.g. you didn’t work via a W2), then you are not eligible for Unemployment.
- Covid Unemployment – With Backdated Start Date
- If you became eligible for “Covid” Unemployment prior to September 5th, but did not yet put in the application, then you can still submit a new claim up until October 5th. Reports are that the NY DOL is backdating new claims to June 2021 and not earlier. If you are eligible for unemployment from before June 2021, you may need to fight for your claim to be backdated further.
- Standard (Pre-COVID) Unemployment
- Regular (pre-covid-type) Unemployment still exists. That means, if you lost your regular (W2) job sometime in the past year, you can still continue claiming up to 26 weeks of Unemployment. If you didn’t yet apply for Unemployment, then you can also file a new claim for standard Unemployment (though the DOL may stop accepting backdated claims for standard Unemployment after October 5th as well – we haven’t seen clear guidance on that).
- Excluded Worker Fund
- If you are not eligible for standard Unemployment or PUA, check if you are eligible for Excluded Worker Fund, a special program for those not eligible for the regular Unemployment.
Existing Claims – Missing Backweeks
You can still collect for weeks that you are still missing. So, if there are weeks that you still have not yet get paid for, make sure to claim those weeks.
See our guide on how to claim missing backweeks.
Although we haven’t seen a specific deadline up until when you can claim for missing backweeks, our recommendation is to get that taken care of sooner rather than later. The only option that currently seems to work for claiming backweeks is speaking with an agent over the phone, but if you are having trouble getting through, we suggest sending the request via the message center as well – providing a record that you tried claiming the missing weeks, while continuing to try and get through to an agent over the phone.
NY Unemployment Updates: https://dol.ny.gov/unemployment/unemployment-insurance-assistance