Hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians could soon be getting up to $1,500 in unemployment back pay. <\/p>\n
The money comes from the federally funded Lost Wages Assistance program administered by the state Employment Security Department, which provides a $300 unemployment benefit bump each week for five weeks, starting with the period that ended Aug. 1. To be eligible, you must be unemployed or working reduced hours because of the pandemic and have received unemployment compensation during the month of August. For those who collected all month, that’s a total of $1,500, and the program could continue into September.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump authorized the temporary Lost Wages Assistance program through a memorandum signed on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n
The federal government approved Washington’s application for three weeks of back pay on Aug. 24. The state was granted money for two more weeks of back pay. It’s unclear how long the program will last as Republicans and Democrats in Congress negotiate another COVID relief package.<\/p>\n
“We essentially apply each week,” state Employment Security Department spokesperson Clare DeLong said. “If the application is approved, then the money is there. We’ll keep doing those applications as long as we can, but it’s a week-by-week basis.”<\/p>\n
To claim your extra payments, all you need to do is visit your unemployment account online<\/a> by Sept. 20 and answer a question to certify that you qualify for the program.<\/p>\n The agency is worried that an influx of users could cause issues for the website.<\/p>\n “You have this entire time to do it,” DeLong said.<\/p>\n There is no benefit to answering the question earlier as long as you certify your status by Sept. 20, she said.<\/p>\n The Employment Security Department will start processing the payments on Sept. 21.<\/p>\n