INDIANAPOLIS – Hoosiers who have been waiting several weeks for the federal pandemic unemployment benefits to resume will receive back pay to cover the weeks they were eligible and were not paid, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development is working to restore the benefits by Friday, according to a statement released this week.
This comes after the Indiana Court of Appeals denied the state’s motion to stay a previous judge’s order that the federal unemployment benefits must continue while a lawsuit to extend the program is decided on.
Since the program was originally set to end June 19 in Indiana, the last federal payments were sent out the week of June 20.
According to Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, a professor of labor and employment law for Indiana University, even if you’ve gotten a job since then, you’re still entitled to receive the federal payments to cover the time when you were eligible but did not get paid.
“These are broader benefits than the ordinary unemployment compensation benefits,” Dau-Schmidt said. “These were the benefits that were passed under the CARES Act that was signed by President Trump, and it includes the $300 weekly add-on, and it includes compensation for a longer period than people are generally eligible for.”
According to a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, claimants will see a message online posted to their Uplink pages by the end of the week regarding the restart of the federal benefits.
Officials are still trying to work out the exact details regarding the actions Hoosiers will need to take to obtain their benefits.
