I just have a fast question to make sure I am not going to be hurting myself down the road. I was furloughed last month, but this week my employer asked be back part time. They will work with be so I can still collect a partial claim.
In the letter I received from the PA unemployment office it gives a dollar amount that is the max I can earn and still collect a partial claim. At my hourly pay rate it works out to 28 hours and 20 minuets per week. So as long as I work under that (and I will keep my hours under 28), I will collect a partial claim, and qualify for the $600 a week, correct?
That is how it seems to me, but I just want to make sure.
Unemployment compensation rules vary quite a bit from state to state. I can’t comment on what the rules in PA are, but if you qualify for $1 per week in state unemployment compensation, you *will *receive the $600 per week federal “kicker” in addition to state UI compensation.
Also note that the $600, while fully funded by the federal government, is still administered by the state through their UI compensation fund. Again, I don’t know the situation in PA, but a lot of states have had a lot of problems getting their systems set up to process the additional payments. You will get the $600 eventually - the program specifically and explicitly guarantees back-payments if you experience delays in getting the payments initially - but, you might experience delays in getting the payments initially.
Actually you don’t have to qualify for state unemployment. The CARES act allows independent contractors and gig workers to qualify for the $600. They still don’t qualify for unemployment in most (all?) states.
That’s why the states had such a hard time setting up the system.
It took a while, but I finally started to receive my unemployment direct deposits last week. And this week I started to receive the $600 payments, five $600 payments in total so far.
But I have a question. I read somewhere that if you are called back to work, and furloughed again, that you will not receive the $600 payments even though it is before the July deadline. The reasoning seems to be that the first furloughed was due to covid-19, the the second is considered to be a normal layoff, not covid-19 related.
Me and several employees were brought back part time (not re-furloughed), do we still qualify for the $600?
I can’t seem to find the info online. Anyone have any idea? Thanks