Extended unemployment benefits through act now available to Utahns

Utah has successfully implemented two of the three extended federal unemployment programs included in the Continued Assistance Act of 2020 (CAA) following guidance received from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Eligible Utahns began receiving these unemployment benefits starting on Jan. 3.

The two programs which have been implemented are:

• The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that provides an additional 11 weeks of federal unemployment benefits to individuals not otherwise eligible for state unemployment and who are unable to work due to COVID-19, including the self-employed and gig workers. This program has been extended to eligible individuals for up to 50 weeks or until the program expires on March 13.

• The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program that provides a weekly stimulus unemployment benefit of $300 to eligible claimants for up to 11 weeks. It began the week ending Jan. 2 and runs until the program expires on March 13.

A third program, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, will take additional time to implement, but the department said it was doing it as quickly as possible. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available. This program provides an additional 13 weeks of federal emergency unemployment benefits for individuals who remain unemployed after they have exhausted their state unemployment benefits. This program has been extended to eligible individuals for up to 24 weeks or until the program expires on March 13.