The federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program, which provides additional unemployment benefits to those who have collected all regular state unemployment benefits for which they were eligible, has been extended.  The legislation, signed by President Obama on July 22, 2010, extends the filing deadline for emergency benefits to November 30, 2010.  The law reinstates the previous EUC benefits available in Tiers 1-4, which means that unemployed individuals may again qualify for up to 53 weeks of additional EUC benefits, beyond the 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits.  Unemployed New Jerseyans may also be eligible for an additional 20 weeks of unemployment benefits under the state’s Extended Benefit (EB) law.  In total, unemployed individuals may again qualify for up to 99 weeks of benefits (26 weeks of regular state unemployment benefits, 53 weeks of federal EUC and 20 weeks of state/federal EB). 

 

Since the EUC law operates retroactively, eligible individuals will be compensated for benefits that they did not receive as a result of the prior law’s expiration on June 2, 2010.  The law also continues to fund 100% of New Jersey’s EB program with federal money.  

 

Two programs previously funded by recovery act legislation have not been reinstated.  The current law does not extend the COBRA subsidy, which helped employees who lost their jobs to maintain medical benefits by requiring them to pay just 35% of the health care premium, or the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) program, which provided an additional $25.00 per week to those receiving unemployment benefits.