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Department of Labor & Workforce Development

NJ Labor Dept. Set to Distribute Extra Unemployment Benefits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 4, 2021

TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) announced Wednesday that unemployed workers would begin receiving $300 in supplemental unemployment benefits early next week, for their first week of eligibility under the expanded CARES Act.

The Department plans to start processing the payments this weekend, with the money appearing on claimants’ debit cards or as direct deposits on Tuesday. (It typically takes 2-3 business days for the money to get to claimants after the payments are processed, depending on their bank.)

“We were among the first states to distribute the earlier federal supplemental payments to workers after the passage of the CARES Act in April, and are equally proud to get this new federal relief out the door quickly,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “Staff hires and automation upgrades completed since the spring have helped make it possible for us to get this benefit to struggling New Jerseyans with no gap or delay.”

“We know what a welcome relief this additional benefit will be to hundreds of thousands of unemployed residents, who are struggling to find work as the pandemic lingers,”  the Commissioner added.

The $300 weekly benefit is in addition to regular unemployment payments, and is for anyone eligible for any amount of unemployment from any federal or state program. This benefit, known as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), was authorized on Dec. 27. The first week of eligibility is the week ending Jan. 2, 2021; the program runs through March 13, 2021.

This reinstated program, which was originally authorized under the CARES Act through July, cut the weekly payments in half, from $600.

Enactment of the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 also means current recipients of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) are likely eligible to receive benefits for 11 additional weeks, through March 13. These claimants should continue to certify for benefits weekly, according to the schedule found on our website, myunemployment.nj.gov.

For claimants who have exhausted PUA or PEUC on or after Dec. 26, it will be a few weeks before weekly benefit certifications can again be processed. The Labor Department is working diligently to reprogram our systems to get this extended program up and running. Once these claimants are notified that the 11 additional weeks have been added to their account they will be able to certify for all past weeks, starting with the week ending Jan. 2, 2021.

For more information on unemployment benefits, visit myunemployment.nj.gov.

To view current job openings in the state, visit New Jersey’s jobs portal here: jobs.covid19.nj.gov

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