Kansas starts paying extra $300 in unemployment, nearly a month after Trump signed bill
Kansans who are eligible for an additional $300 per week in unemployment payments approved by Congress last month will start receiving the benefits Friday.
The Kansas Department of Labor announced it had received federal guidance from the U.S. labor department about the program, called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, or FPUC.
The benefit will be paid out with the week starting Jan. 2. It will run through the week ending March 13.
If someone claiming unemployment benefits is eligible for the additional $300, they do not have to take any action to receive it, other than continuing to file weekly claims for the benefit they are already receiving.
Originally, the federal program provided an extra $600 per week in unemployment under the CARES Act. Those payments ended on July 31.
Unemployed Kansans who qualify for the new version of the program will receive the $300 payments retroactively for the week starting Jan. 2.
That leaves about a one week gap in benefits from when former President Donald Trump signed the federal economic stimulus bill into law and when people in Kansas are eligible for the payments.
Trump signed the bill, called the Continued Assistance Act, on Dec. 27. The Kansas labor department began paying out benefits Friday, Jan. 22, after receiving the federal guidance on how to implement the payments.
No one is eligible for the federal federal pandemic program payments between July 31 and the week ending Dec. 26.
Since March 15, 2020 the state labor agency has paid out over 3.9 million weekly claims totaling over $2.6 billion between regular unemployment and the federal pandemic programs.
For more information, or to apply for unemployment benefits, visit www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
