OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission gave details on when Oklahomans can get a boost from last month's coronavirus relief bill.
President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion bill in late December, but jobless Oklahomans haven't seen any of the promised $300 boost.
READ MORE: Trump signs COVID relief funding measure, averts shutdown
OESC's Director Shelley Zumwalt posted on Twitter to update Oklahomans on the payment timeline.
She said they are doing a phased-approach, working with people who've gotten the least amount of money first, and moving forward from there. Zumwalt said everyone will begin to see the FPUC, the $300 benefit on top of the weekly benefits, being paid out starting Jan. 24, 2021.
Zumwalt categorized the timeline by speaking on three different groups of people:
- People who have NOT exhausted their benefits
- People who have exhausted their benefits
- People who have exhausted their benefit year
Group #1: People who have NOT exhausted their benefits
Zumwalt said these are the people who have not maxed out their benefits during the pandemic. These individuals have weeks left on a PEUC or PUA claim that was not exhausted as of Dec. 26th. This is about 35,000 Oklahomans. They got their benefits January 8th.
Update from Director Zumwalt on the Continued Assistance Act benefit payment timeline. Part 1 of 3. pic.twitter.com/fNqWwtm2WQ
— OESCnews (@OESCnews) January 8, 2021
Group #2: People who have exhausted their benefits
These people have been paid the maximum amount of benefits during the previous year and exhausted their claims. Zumwalt said these individuals exhausted either 39 weeks of PUA, the 13 week PEUC extension, or exhausted SEB or were on SEB on Dec. 12th when OESC was notified it ended.
The second group will be paid out by Jan. 24, 2021.
Group #3: People who have exhausted their benefit year
This group of people started receiving benefits before the pandemic started. Their benefit year started in 2019 and ended before Dec. 26, 2020. OESC will release benefit payments for this group of people AFTER they have paid out the Jan. 24th payment to the people in group two, who had exhausted their clams.
Zumwalt said they will continue to release payments for two weeks after the second group is finished being paid.
Update from Director Zumwalt on the Continued Assistance Act benefit payment timeline. Part 2 of 3. pic.twitter.com/i99hUSrlFR
— OESCnews (@OESCnews) January 8, 2021
If people have questions about their unemployment benefits OESC said the best days to call are generally Thursday afternoon and Friday. The worst time to call is Monday morning.
CLICK HERE for more information on OESC
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