Va. jobless benefits likely to resume very soon

RICHMOND

Congress' decision to extend federal unemployment compensation through November means that scores of jobless Virginians whose benefits began lapsing in June will continue to receive payments, including retroactive ones.

But some may have to wait several days, or even weeks, to get the money, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. That delay isn't unique to Virginia; a U.S. Department of Labor spokesman said several states have indicated it could take two or three weeks to begin making payments.

Others - Pennsylvania and New York, for example - have already begun doing so.

Some Virginia unemployment payments likely will resume by week's end or the middle of next week, commission spokeswoman Joyce Fogg said. In North Carolina, payments started going out this week.

Under the extension, a maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, divided into several categories and paid with a combination of state and federal funds, remain available to idled workers in many states.

That isn't the case in Virginia, however.

Conditions attached to some of the available federal benefits are tied to elevated state unemployment rates. That leaves Virginia ineligible to access funding streams to cover another 13 weeks of payments because it has not exceeded certain unemployment thresholds.

The commonwealth's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 7 percent in June was more than two percentage points below the national average of 9.5 percent.

As a result, eligible unemployed workers in Virginia can receive a maximum of 86 weeks of benefits. That includes 26 weeks of state payments and a 13-week extension, plus 47 weeks of coverage from the federal government.

The federal extension does not provide additional funding for those who have exhausted all their benefit weeks. Nor does it continue the $25 per week of additional compensation previously offered.

To receive benefits in Virginia, eligible applicants are required to actively seek work and report those efforts weekly to the state employment agency.

Without the extension, jobless Virginians who had exhausted their initial 26 weeks of state payments wouldn't have been able to receive federal benefits.

An estimated 39,800 jobless Virginians - and more than 2.5 million people nationwide - were affected by payment lapses.

Partisan divides this summer slowed passage of the reauthorization package, which was finally approved last week. Democrats argued that financial aid remains important for people still without work in a soft job market. Republicans lawmakers, in turn, pushed for spending cuts to offset the estimated $34 billion price tag of the package.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com