Retroactive Eligibility for New Emergency Benefits

I just spoke with California Gigi, her concern was with the wording used by CA on their website regarding benefits and whether or not they would be eligible if they have already run out of benefits. There has also been a few articles that are circulating regarding this issue. To be clear, payments are not retroactive, however eligibility for benefits is retroactive. Again, there will not be retro payments for weeks you had no money in your unemployment accounts BUT you are eligible for benefits under the new bill due to retroactive eligibility!

Here is a portion of a letter I received from one of the NELP attorneys clarifying this issue.

Retroactive Pay:

The new bill allows for retroactive eligibility, but not retroactive pay. Retroactive eligibility means that people who exhausted their benefits prior to the passage of the bill are still covered. However these people will not be entitled to a lump sum payment when the bill is passed. The major reason retroactive payment is not in this bill is that we just cannot afford it. If there was any way for us to be pushing for retroactive pay we definitely would do so. We understand people out there are hurting and right now the main thing is to get this bill passed so we can help those in dire need as soon as possible.

I hope this clears things up for everyone. We of course are still waiting to find out all the details of the bill as to what is the first week for these benefits, but once the bill is enacted people who are currently out of benefits will start receiving benefits in accordance with their states. All states will get 14 weeks with 6 additional weeks available to the states with an unemployment rate of 8.5% and above.