Alabama Starts Giving $600 Federal Stimulus Payments to the Unemployed

The State of Alabama has now started giving people receiving unemployment benefits an extra $600 a week. That money was approved in the passage of the federal CARES Act late last month.

The extra money is officially called the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefit.

The Alabama Department of Labor began paying the benefits on April 8.  People whose claims have been processed should expect to see the funds within 2-3 days.  The state labor department paid $40,060,495 in FPUC benefits to 60,848 people yesterday.

The payment is added to the person’s state weekly benefit amount (maximum of $275/week). The payments will be made for eligible weeks beginning on March 29 through July 25. This does not refer to the date the original claim was filed, but to the weeks being claimed.

For example, if someone filed their initial claim on March 16, 2020, and remains out of work, they will not receive the additional $600 for the weeks beginning March 15 or March 22, but would receive it for the week beginning March 29, and all weeks going forward.

The state labor department will make payments retroactively for weeks already claimed since March 29.

“We understand the frustration of many Alabamians who are out of work due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and we know that they need these benefits to stay afloat,” said Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington.  “We are working as hard as we can to make sure that everyone gets the benefits they need as quickly as they can.  We are one of the first states to begin distributing these funds. We continue to urge patience as the department works to implement this vital legislation.”

Programs included in the legislation:

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – provides unemployment benefits to those not ordinarily eligible for them. This includes individuals who are self-employed or contract employees. This benefit is retroactive to January 27, 2020.

Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – provides $600 per week to any individual eligible for any of the Unemployment Compensation programs. This benefit begins March 29, 2020.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – allows for an additional 13 weeks of benefits added to the end of regular unemployment benefits. This means claimants may collect unemployment benefits for a longer period of time than under normal circumstances.

ADOL is encouraging anyone who believes they may be eligible for these programs to file a claim at www.labor.alabama.gov or by calling (866) 234-5382. Online filing is strongly encouraged.

Those who already have an active claim, or who have already filed a claim, do not need to refile to be eligible for these benefits.  ADOL will begin processing PUA and PEUC claims as soon as administratively possible.

The Alabama Department of Labor reminds you that unemployment benefits are not available to employees who quit without good work-related cause, refuse to return to work, or refuse to receive full-time pay. Refusing to return to work could result in a disqualification for benefit eligibility.  Attempts to collect unemployment benefits after quitting a job without good work-related cause is considered to be fraud.

The state labor department says the CARES Act provides for serious consequences for fraudulent cases including fines, confinement and an inability to receive future unemployment benefits until all fraudulent claims and fines have been repaid.   Employers are encouraged to utilize the New Hire system to report those employees who fail to return to work.

— Information from The Alabama Department of Labor