ATLANTA — Georgians who qualify for the Lost Wages Assistance program can expect to see a boost in their unemployment benefits soon.
Federal Emergency Management Administration announced this week that states will be limited to six weeks of benefits for the LWA program. LWA is a program that receives funding from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. LWA will allow distribution of an additional $300 weekly supplement to eligible individuals receiving UI benefits.
The state's Department of Labor said on Thursday they plan on issuing the their first round of supplemental payments by early next week. The funds will be for the first three eligible weeks. The labor department plans to issue the final three weeks’ worth of payments by late next week.
Here is how it works.
If a person is qualified for LWA, they will be issued their payments in separate batches, the first batch for three weeks of $300 each ($900) and the second batch for the remaining three weeks of $300 each.
In sum, these will be LWA benefits for weeks ending August 1 through September 5 - which equals six weeks.
Here is what you need to do to check eligibility.
Georgians should visit their My U.I. portal where they will use a link to attest to the reason for their unemployment. Individuals whose employers have filed on their behalf or those who are receiving benefits through Pandemic Unemployment Assistance do not need to attest their reason for unemployment. Only those with an individually-filed claim will need to do so.
If you qualify LWA, the labor department said they will issue the payments in the two separate batches.
Eligibility for the LWA program is based upon an individual's weekly benefit determination. You must have received a weekly benefit amount determination of at least $100 to be eligible for LWA supplemental benefits.
The state's labor department said it has paid more than $13 billion in state and federal benefits since the pandemic began in mid-March.