The $600 extra provided each week by the federal government to help those who lost their job during the COVID-19 pandemic will shrink by half under a program announced Monday by the state.
Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a news release that the state had submitted its application for unemployment insurance benefits under the Lost Wages Assistance program announced by President Donald Trump earlier this month.
The program provides for $300 weekly in extra federal funding for those out of work.
But, under the application submitted by the state, Oklahoma will not be providing an extra $100 in weekly benefits as part of the required 25% match.
Rather, the state will be utilizing funds it already pays out in regular unemployment compensation as its 25% match required under the program, which utilizes Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for the federal portion.
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Trump announced the program through an executive action after Congress let the original $600 weekly benefit expire July 31. Trump’s program runs through Dec. 27.
Originally, Trump touted the program as a $400 weekly benefit, with $300 coming from FEMA and $100 coming from the state.
The Trump administration later clarified that states could use existing unemployment benefit spending as their 25% share.
“As we are months ahead of other states in our recovery and Oklahoma is open for business, many Oklahomans have returned to work or are in training to take on a new career,” Stitt said in a written statement. “However, we also want to continue to help those who are still working to secure employment.
“The teams at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management have submitted the FEMA grant application to begin the process to allow the state to provide $300 in weekly benefits under the Lost Wages Assistance program announced by President Trump.”
Once approved, FEMA will fund the $300 per week benefit and Oklahoma will fulfill the 25% state match through funding that is already paid out to claimants in regular unemployment benefits, the news release said.
The release did not say when applicants could expect the extra $300 in federal benefits although it hinted that it would not necessarily occur quickly.
“Working with legacy technology to implement this benefit will hinder the agency’s ability to make quick changes to the system, but our team will work as fast as possible given the constraints that exist dealing with 40-year-old technology,” OESC interim Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt said.
“Regardless of the timeline, the benefit will be retroactive to Aug. 1, and all eligible claimants will receive back pay to that date once changes to the system have been put into production,” Zumwalt said.
The state could not use its unemployment trust fund as a source for the state’s match because it is not an approved source, Zumwalt said.
“The UI trust fund is paid into by employers, and the funding for the additional benefit had to come from state funds,” Zumwalt said in an email. “The fiscal impact for the $100 benefit from August to December is at least $325 million and currently there are no state funding sources that have this amount available for expenditure.”
In order to qualify for Lost Wages Assistance program benefits, Oklahomans must prove they are unemployed or partially unemployed as a result of COVID-19, and the state must confirm that the individual is receiving at least $100 of underlying unemployment benefits from OESC.
Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico and Utah have been approved by FEMA for the program, according to FEMA news releases.
All six states will use regular unemployment insurance payments as their 25% match.
The federal funding will come from FEMA’s disaster relief fund. Trump on Aug. 8 made available up to $44 billion in FEMA funding for the program.
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NE-Postal
Bradley said the Processing and Distribution Center at 2132 S. 91st East Ave., where most of his members work, has lost several sorting machines over the past few years, including one in the past six months. He also said the work force has been cut back so that machines intended for two workers now have only one.
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“We have far fewer employees at the P&D Center than we did 10 years ago,” Bradley said. “We used to have around 1,000. Now it’s about 600.”
And that’s only the people who sort the mail. The Postal Service’s overall workforce has declined along with first-class mail while the volume of packages and flats — mostly magazines — has increased.
NE-Postal
With a recent no-overtime edict, Bradley said the system is less able to handle surges in volume. Mail backs up in stations and other collection points, and what used to be delivered in one or two days arrives in three or four — or longer.
Mailboxes
One work-around, Bradley said, is to mail absentee ballots and other time-sensitive items from the boxes outside the Processing and Distribution Center. That mail goes directly to sorting, thus possibly cutting a day or two off delivery time.
Mailboxes
In response to the outcry over the president's actions, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a vote to take place Saturday on legislation that would prohibit changes at USPS.
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Mailboxes
Worried about your absentee ballot being accepted by the Oklahoma Election Board?
“Mail it in seven days beforehand. We should have no issues getting it to the Election Board by the deadline,” said Jeff Bradley, president of American Postal Workers Local 1348.
Read more: Residents urged to vote early but not often in upcoming elections
