Clarifying Eligibility for the New Unemployment Extension

Subject: Clarifying Eligibility for the New Extension

Dear Friends - 

We understand that many of you may be under the impression that once the unemployment extension bill is passed, it won't apply to anyone who has already run out of benefits. Let us assure you that is NOT correct. If you have exhausted your full range of federally funded benefits before the passage of this bill, you WILL be eligible for these additional weeks. In that sense, the bill is retroactive in its reach.

However, in another important aspect, the bill is NOT retroactive. You will not receive a lump sum payment dating back to the time when you exhausted benefits. The benefits will only be paid going forward. We know this creates a huge hardship for many of you who exhausted benefits weeks or months ago, and it is one of the things we have been speaking about most strongly as this bill has been delayed time and time again. We know you are falling deeper into debt with each passing week, and we are sorry to say that there is just no possible way that these benefits could have ever been designed to be paid retroactively. However, once the bill is passed, you will know that you will have an additional 14 or 20 weeks to depend on going forward, and we hope that provides you with some measure of reassurance.

We will continue to post daily updates on the progress of this Bill in Congress, and are working tirelessly for the quickest passage possible.

Sincerely,

Andy, Andriette, Tiphany, Rick, Christine, Maurice, Debbie and Judy
The unemployedworkers.org team