Kansans begin to see unemployment extension, last major provision of federal relief bill
A federal extension of unemployment benefits in Kansas will begin to show up in the bank accounts of some unemployed workers Friday.
The Kansas Department of Labor began paying out the extended benefits, called Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC, to around 4,800 Kansans, it announced Friday.
Hundreds of others won’t receive the extension until the week beginning March 1, more than a week later.
Those roughly 370 Kansans in phases two and three of the PEUC program have had to wait for the labor department to write new code to update its outdated technology system. The department said it needed to test solutions in order to implement those additional PEUC claims.
The state previously said it would begin to pay out from the program no later than Friday.
The PEUC extension was first established temporarily under the CARES Act last year, which provided an extra 13 weeks of benefits to people who exhausted their regular payments. The latest economic stimulus bill passed in December, known as the Continued Assistance Act, increased the maximum amount of benefits available under the PEUC program from 13 weeks to 24 weeks — adding an additional 11 weeks of unemployment payments.
The Kansas Department of Labor’s implementation of the program comes nearly two months after the federal legislation was signed into law.
The labor agency and Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration previously urged Congress to pass a relief bill in time to avoid a pause in federal unemployment programs that expired on Dec. 26. Former President Donald Trump signed the legislation on Dec. 27, causing some delay for workers to receive payment at the same time outdated and legacy technology in Kansas has slowed the rollout.
Anyone who is eligible for PEUC benefits should continue to file a weekly claim online. If a worker is no longer filing for benefits but remained unemployed after Dec. 27 with a previous PEUC claim can reopen that claim.
Kansans who currently file claims through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, program who previously exhausted their PEUC benefits must also reopen their PEUC claim, because of the additional payments available.
Under the current bill, the PEUC program will expire in mid-March. The last payable week for PEUC is the week ending March 13. However, some workers might qualify for an extended phase-out period and collect the benefits through the week ending April 10.
President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill would extend additional unemployment benefits through Aug. 29 and add an extra $400 a week. Democrats are hoping to pass the stimulus bill before the current unemployment provisions expire.
For more information or to apply for unemployment benefits, visit to www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.
