If You Are On Unemployment You May Be Eligible For An Extra $300 Per Week

If you are unemployed, and pull in at least $100 per week in unemployment benefits, you might be eligible for an extra $300 per week through the Lost Wages Assistance program to provide state relief for unemployment.

Now, before you get all crazy excited over this news, you KNOW there are some stipulations. Not EVERYONE is going to get this extra $100 per week.

If you fall under that threshold of making $100 per week (about 6% of people on unemployment), you don’t qualify for the additional aid.

I know, at face value, that doesn’t make any sense at all, but I’m sure there is a method to their madness. I’m not qualified enough to know what that might be.

The Trump administration imposed this rule to ensure people who lost side gigs, as opposed to a primary income source, can’t collect the subsidy, John Pallasch, assistant secretary for employment and training at the U.S. Labor Department, said at a press conference last month.

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There are some lucky people in states where the minimum unemployment payout is already above $100 so they qualify. Those states are: Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state. LUCKIES!!

If you live in Idaho or Rhode Island, your state’s got your back. They found workarounds to the new program, and are extending the grant even to those who make less than $100.

Workers also have to self-certify that they were unemployed do to COVID-19 related causes. That doesn’t mean you HAD the coronavirus, it means you were let go because of cutbacks or something similar.

Some labor advocates are concerned workers won’t know to do this or will answer the question incorrectly, thereby disqualifying them from getting the subsidy.

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The Lost Wages Supplemental Payment Assistance Grant lets states decide if they need the money, and it’s up to them to give it out however they see fit. The deadline for applying for the grant was September 10.

Unfortunately, if you live in South Dakota, your state did not apply for The Lost Wages Supplemental Payment Assistance Grant, so don’t expect a check in the mail.

Now, many states are trying to figure out how to hand out this money, and in some cases states have already sent it out.

The cool thing is, if you are eligible for the extra $300 per month, you will also get it retroactively for the weeks of August 1, 8, and 15.

Of course there is another thing you have to note: this extra money is only for a maximum of 6 weeks. So, if you get the check, you may want to put it in a bank, and leave it there for emergencies.