Mass. receives grant to retroactively pay $300 a week to unemployment recipients
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Gov. Charlie Baker
Massachusetts unemployment recipients will retroactively receive an additional $300 a week for the three weeks ending Aug. 1, Aug.8 and Aug. 15, the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration announced on Monday.
The boost is the result of a grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide unemployment recipients with additional compensation under the Lost Wages Supplemental Payment Assistance program, according to the announcement. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reportedly submitted the grant application to FEMA late last week, in tandem with the Department of Unemployment Assistance.
The DUA is already working on technology to support the program and, according to the announcement, expects to be able to deliver the additional funds to eligible recipients in the coming weeks. Most recipients will not need to do anything to receive the funds.
Unemployment recipients were receiving an additional $600 a week through the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, established as part of the CARES Act, for pay periods between March 29 and July 31, but that program expired on July 25, according to the Mass.gov website.
The $300 comes from an executive order President Donald Trump signed, authorizing $44 billion from FEMA to be used for unemployment benefits. His order came after talks with Congress failed to reach an agreement on extending the $600 program, among other coronavirus-related relief.
Baker announced he would apply for the additional FEMA benefits last week, which are intended to help cover the gap after the $600 a week program ended.
Notably, the increase in benefits comes after Massachusetts logged the highest unemployment rate in the country in July, for the second month in a row. The 16.1% unemployment rate in July was a decrease from 17.4% in June.
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