February 17, 2010 - Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) is sending letters this week to everyone receiving unemployment benefits in the state advising that federally-funded unemployment benefit extensions may not be renewed by the end of the month if Congress does not act soon.
"The federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) is set to expire on February 28, 2010," UIA Director Stephen Geskey stated. "If Congress does not pass legislation to extend the deadline for this and other federally-funded benefits, then thousands of unemployed Michigan workers will begin to exhaust their benefits starting in March."
Congress needs to approve the funding to continue the four tiers of the EUC program, which now pay up to 53 weeks of jobless benefits in Michigan; the Extended Benefit (EB) program, which pays up to 20 weeks benefits; and the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) program that pays an extra $25 per week in unemployment benefits.
"In Michigan about 290,000 unemployed workers are collecting EUC benefits and another 20,200 are receiving EB benefits on top of the 230,000 who are drawing state unemployment benefits," Geskey said.
The letter UIA is sending out this week advises that without Congressional approval those collecting EUC will only be able to draw out the remaining benefits they are entitled to through the EUC tier they are in as of February 28 but will not be able to move into the next tier. Those collecting state benefits must exhaust their benefits by February 20 in order to apply for EUC benefits.
Those who exhaust their state or EUC benefits between February 27 and March 20, may apply for the EB program. However, the last week for which EB benefits can be paid is the week ending March 27. For those on EB, your MARVIN contact (telephone or online) for the week of March 28th or April 4th will be reflected in that final EB payment.
"Without Congressional action, some 500,000 unemployed Michigan workers will run out of unemployment benefits by July," Geskey pointed out.
Read more releases from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth
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