With the economy of California continuing to struggle in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the officials of the state marked yesterday’s Labour Day holiday by giving $900 to jobless residents.
However, a lot of those who fit into the scale won’t get this assistance immediately and almost 200,000 aren’t going to get it at all.
The payment covers 3 weeks of benefits retroactive to the week which ended on 1st of August at the rate of $300 per week.
It’s paid by the federal government.
What Does This Program Include Exactly?
There’s been an earlier program by the federal government which offered $600 weekly benefit on top of normal unemployment checks; however, it expired in July.
With an executive order by president Trump, last month, Congress authorized $300 in weekly supplements, but without a guarantee of continuing beyond three weeks.
The latest payment will give the necessary relief for the unemployed workers of California, explained Dana Hadl, the directing attorney for Bet Tzedek Legal Services in LA. However, she also said that this isn’t enough.
Namely, although this financial help will begin to ease the workers’ fears of being unable to house and feed their families; it doesn’t entirely replace the $600 from the CARES Act and Congress will have to keep on protecting the vulnerable low wage workers, emphasized Hadl.
More Has to Be Done to Keep the Unemployed Safe
The State Employment Development Department will send the first $900 in federal supplements to 3.1 million individuals who’ve received at least $100 in weekly unemployment benefits from the state and those who had previously certified that their reason for unemployment is directly linked with Covid-19.
The representatives of the Department said that they’ll need several weeks to send out all of these benefits.
Moreover, additional 1.2 million claimants will need to certify eligibility of joblessness associated with Covid-19 and will be informed by the Department starting 15th of September.
Unfortunately, around 190,000 unemployed Californian citizens won’t receive the $300 benefit due to receiving less than $100 in state benefits which is the threshold by the federal government for eligibility.
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