Waiting for $300 per week unemployment boost? Washington state to send money next week
Washington’s Employment Security Department will start processing payments from the Lost Wages Assistance program Sept. 21, and recipients of the additional help should see the funds in their accounts a few days later.
For a limited time, an additional $300 per week will be added to those who are receiving unemployment benefits due to job losses due to COVID-19.
“Any additional funds to help unemployed workers are welcome – and we estimate that this will provide more than $450 million to families, individuals and our state’s economy,” said ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine said in a statement announcing the timing.
The Lost Wages Assistance program is a temporary emergency assistance measure that’s not related to the extra $600 that the federal government provided under the CARES act that expired in July. The Lost Wages Assistance program is a pool of money that can be drawn from by states who apply and are approved for those allocated funds.
As of Sept. 18, ESD said applications for the extra funding are currently approved for the weeks ending Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and Sept. 5.
If you’re eligible for any of the approved weeks, you will receive the extra $300 retroactively for those weeks.
However, “The only exception to this payment timeline is if your unemployment claim for any of the weeks ending Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and Sept. 5 is pending due to an issue we are investigating. We must first resolve those issues and pay you unemployment benefits for those weeks. Then, if Lost Wages Assistance funds are still available, we also will pay you the extra $300 for those weeks,” according to ESD’s information on its website.
Washington state applied and was approved for all weeks available from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it is not funding any weeks beyond the week ending Sept. 5, 2020.
Those who would like to make a claim must verify unemployment or partial unemployment caused by COVID-19. For those who have not already put in a claim, individuals have until Sept. 8 to complete a questionnaire and need to respond by Sept. 20 to receive payments as of Sept. 21.
For more information, go to the Employment Security Department’s website at esd.wa.gov/LWA.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Waiting for $300 per week unemployment boost? Washington state to send money next week."
