TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After more than two dozen states had already applied, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that Florida has applied for the federal Lost Wages Assistance program.
Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order making up to $44 billion in FEMA Disaster Relief funds available to pay unemployed Americans an additional $300 per week after the $600 a week federal payments expired in July.
The program offers the $300 a week benefit for those eligible for assistance from the state for weeks of unemployment ending on or after Aug. 1.
When approved, the Lost Wages Assistance program will offer unemployed Floridians the $300 a week payment on top of the unemployment assistance from the state.
To be eligible, claimants must be receiving at least $100 in an approved Reemployment Assistance program weekly benefit. And, claimants must certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those eligible for the funds include people receiving:
- State Reemployment Assistance, including Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) and Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service members (UCX)
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
- Extended Benefits (EB)
- Short-Time Compensation (STC)
- Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA)
- Payments under the Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) program.
DeSantis said pending approval of the state's application, payments will be retroactive to Aug. 1. No additional application will be necessary, as the Lost Wages Assistance program will be administered similarly to the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.
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