On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law. A chief goal of the act is the stabilize families on the brink of poverty due to unemployment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. To achieve this goal, the act extends unemployment relief originally provided under the CARES act of last March and continued under the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of December 2020.
The American Rescue Plan Act extends: Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC). PEUC provides benefits to those who have exhausted their state unemployment insurance benefits before finding new employment. PUA provides unemployment benefits for people who are not eligible for state unemployment benefits, including self-employed workers, if they can demonstrate that they are without work for a Covid-related reason. FPUC provides supplemental federal funds to any person receiving state unemployment benefits.
The American Rescue Plan Act extends PEUC and PUA (to those not eligible for state unemployment benefits) until September 6, 2021, or until 53 weeks of collection for PEUC, or 79 weeks for PUA. For those eligible for state unemployment benefits, FPUC will provide an additional $300 for each weekly benefit collected until September 6, 2021.
If you have a question regarding an employment matter, please contact our office at (603) 288-1403 for a free initial consultation with one of our employment attorneys or fill out our online contact form.