Extended federal jobless benefits to continue in Michigan Congress OK's extending benefits through 2011

Contact: Norm Isotalo 313-456-2939

Agency: Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

December 17, 2010 - "The extension of federal unemployment benefits is welcome news to the thousands of unemployed workers in Michigan," Stephen Geskey, director of the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA), said today.

However, he pointed out that the extension, which Congress approved yesterday and which the President is expected to sign today, does not add any new benefits to those that are currently being paid in the state.

"The maximum number of weeks for which we can pay state and federal unemployment benefits is still 99 weeks," Geskey said. "There are no new tiers of the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) or any new benefit programs. The federal legislation merely extends the ending date for the programs from November 30, 2010 to January 4, 2012."

He also pointed out that unemployed workers who exhausted their state or EUC benefits after November 30 were moved into the federal extension program - Extended Benefits (EB). The EB program was continuing benefit payments through the week ending January 1, 2011.

"Since Michigan was able to pay Extended Benefits, those claiming unemployment benefits saw no disruption in their payments," Geskey said. "The only thing those claiming unemployment benefits need to do is to continue contacting our MARVIN system either by telephone or by going online."

Individual's contact MARVIN once every two weeks to claim unemployment benefits for the preceding two-week period. Payments are then authorized and individuals receive their benefit two to three business days later."

Approximately 336,000 unemployed workers are collecting either state or federal benefits in Michigan. UIA had estimated that 181,500 would exhaust their unemployment benefits from December 2010 through April 2011 if federal jobless benefits were not extended.

The agency is updating its website and telephone lines with information about the continuation of federal extensions. Prerecorded messages on UIA's 1-866-MI HELPS telephone number are being updated along with "on hold" messages on the agency's toll-free claims line - 1-866-500-0017.

There are four tiers of federally-funded EUC benefits payable in Michigan: 

• Tier I - Pays up to 20 weeks of EUC benefits to those who exhaust their state unemployment benefits.
•  Tier II - Pays up to 14 weeks of EUC to those exhausting Tier I. 
• Tier III - Pays up to 13 weeks of EUC to those exhausting Tier II. 
• Tier IV - Pays up to 6 weeks of EUC to those exhausting Tier III.

Tiers III and IV are payable in states with high unemployment rates, such as Michigan.

EB is the final extension and pays up to 20 weeks of jobless benefits to those exhausting all of their EUC benefits.

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