Up to 20 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB) are now available for Vermonters who exhausted all other available benefits, the Vermont Department of Labor announced. These additional weeks were made available due to the increase in the State’s overall unemployment rate based on predetermined economic thresholds.
“The Extended Benefits program is designed for periods of high unemployment such as this. Vermont went from a very low unemployment rate to a very high unemployment rate quickly with an over ten percent increase in the unemployment rate between March and April 2020. This program will continue to help Vermonters until they are able to safely get back to work.”
Regular unemployment insurance benefits provide a maximum 26 weeks benefits, while Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which was a component of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provides an additional 13 weeks. For regular unemployment insurance claimants that transition to PEUC, additional weeks from PEUC must be exhausted first before transitioning onto EB, if found eligible.
Claimants filing as a part of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides benefits for those not traditionally eligible for regular unemployment insurance, are not eligible for PEUC, but may be eligible for EB. As with regular unemployment insurance claimants, PUA claimants would experience no delay in transition from PUA to EB.
For more information on the Department of Labor and unemployment insurance, go to labor.vermont.gov.