More unemployed people in New Jersey could get the $300 extra unemployment benefit created by President Donald Trump’s executive order, according to the state Department of Labor.
At issue is how the state’s computer system identified what benefits should be paid, official said.
To be eligible for Lost Wages Assistance (LWA), according to the guidelines, people had to be unemployed for a coronavirus-related reason and they must have been eligible for a weekly benefit rate (WBR) of at least $100 for each of the six weeks funded by the program. Eligible workers would get an additional $300 a week for the six weeks ending Aug. 1 through Sept. 5, for a maximum $1,800 payment.
Michelle Sinclair, who returned to her job at a massage parlor with part-time hours, received lower weekly unemployment benefits when she worked part-time. But she only received three weeks of $300 payments, or $900, when she said she should have received the full $1,800.
“I should have gotten the whole thing. It’s wrong,” the West Orange resident said.
The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed workers like Sinclair are correct.
An agency spokesperson said to be eligible, individual workers must have certified they lost their job because of the virus and must been approved for weekly benefits of at least a $100, even if they don’t claim the full amount every week.
To clarify, NJ Advance Media posed this hypothetical scenario:
Say a person has a weekly benefit amount of more than $100 and is unemployed for a coronavirus-related reason. During some of the weeks for LWA, the person worked part-time so they only claimed $50 in benefits. Would that person be eligible for the extra $300 for the weeks they only claimed $50 because they worked part-time as long as their overall approved benefit was more than $100?
“In the scenario posed, the individual would get the $300 in LWA,” the spokesperson said.
As long as their approved weekly benefit was higher than $100 and they otherwise qualified, they should have gotten the payments, the spokesperson said.
When asked about the discrepancy, the state Department of Labor said it is “conducting a post-run analysis” of the new programming used for the $300 payments.
“Due to the complexity of the programming – which required identifying people from the 1.7 million claimant records in our system who were A) unemployed between Aug. 1 and Sept. 5, B) had a weekly benefit rate of at least $100, and C) were unemployed for a COVID-related reason – it’s possible that it may not have captured all the data to make full payment to every claimant,” spokeswoman Angela Delli-Santi said.
“We are currently cross-checking our databases against possible discrepancies, and will make adjustment to any claim that requires it. Initial analysis indicates there may be discrepancies with about 3% of the payable weeks,” she said.
She said 97 percent of…
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