General EUC Discussion - Ongoing

I probably posted this in the legislative thread, but I'm confused about the new bill. If someone's benefits run out in Feb 2010 will this new extension automatically kick in like EUC ?

connorsgp wrote:I probably posted this in the legislative thread, but I'm confused about the new bill. If someone's benefits run out in Feb 2010 will this new extension automatically kick in like EUC ?

The new extension is another tier of EUC so yes, once the prior benefits have been exhausted this round would kick in, despite when your benefits have ended.

Also, I am deleting the other post in the Senate News thread

yes yes we aRE ALL DOING THE HAPPY DANCE LOL!!!!!!!!SHEW THANK GOD !!!!I WONDER HOW LONG WILL AWI TAKE NOW ?????????I HOPE NOT LONG ILL BE ON THE PHONE AS SOON AS PRES SIGNS !!!!!!!!THANKS EVERY ONE AND CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!

Did it go through? How soon will we receive? What do I (we) have to do now?

jamfaf wrote:Did it go through? How soon will we receive? What do I (we) have to do now?

We're waiting today to see if the House votes, and Reid had assurances from the House before he allowed those final two amendments to go through that the House would be in favor of them. Last I heard someone posted something about 2 o'clock today as possibility? Then Obama has to sign it, which he will, so we are all hoping for an eligibility date starting next week. How long AWI takes to get this to us is now the $64,000 question, or should I say the $300 question for the first week's check. They have been putting updates on the main AWI site, so check there as soon as the bill is signed.

Also, they previously posted that if you are currently on benefits still, they will automatically transfer you over, but if exhausted you have to wait for a letter to apply, like we did with EB--but double check with AWI on all that when the bill is actually implemented.

nancym wrote:

jamfaf wrote:Did it go through? How soon will we receive? What do I (we) have to do now?

We're waiting today to see if the House votes, and Reid had assurances from the House before he allowed those final two amendments to go through that the House would be in favor of them. Last I heard someone posted something about 2 o'clock today as possibility? Then Obama has to sign it, which he will, so we are all hoping for an eligibility date starting next week. How long AWI takes to get this to us is now the $64,000 question, or should I say the $300 question for the first week's check. They have been putting updates on the main AWI site, so check there as soon as the bill is signed.

Also, they previously posted that if you are currently on benefits still, they will automatically transfer you over, but if exhausted you have to wait for a letter to apply, like we did with EB--but double check with AWI on all that when the bill is actually implemented.

I've read several news stories that say the House is "highly likely" to pass this, and reasonably quickly. I agree with you: I think they've already gotten enough assurances of yay votes from the House to essentially know this bill will pass. And you know Obama will sign it. He's already said he would more than once.

Still not exactly clear on why I was told to expect 20 weeks from Tier 1 (My regular benefits don't expire until early December). But it looks like I'm gonna have at least 40 more weeks after they do, which is about 9 months.

Sounds reassuring to me. Now to get a dang job and I'll really feel better.

InsuranceMan wrote:

Still not exactly clear on why I was told to expect 20 weeks from Tier 1 (My regular benefits don't expire until early December). But it looks like I'm gonna have at least 40 more weeks after they do, which is about 9 months.

Oh, so you did get a definite reply from AWI on Tier 1 for all 20 weeks? That's great! The only thing I was thinking was that if you got eligibility for Tier 1, the first 13 weeks of that is from a bill prior to the EUC extension that was passed last fall, which added the 7 to the original 13, and which is the law with the December deadlines. So since you are eligible by running out of regular before the end of December, it would make sense that you could get the 13 at least, but I'm surprised about the full 20. Maybe there's some clause that automatically says once it starts it continues for the full Tier. Still have to gather more info on this to get a clearer picture of the rules, but glad to hear this has worked out for you.

nancym wrote:

Oh, so you did get a definite reply from AWI on Tier 1 for all 20 weeks? That's great! The only thing I was thinking was that if you got eligibility for Tier 1, the first 13 weeks of that is from a bill prior to the EUC extension that was passed last fall, which added the 7 to the original 13, and which is the law with the December deadlines. So since you are eligible by running out of regular before the end of December, it would make sense that you could get the 13 at least, but I'm surprised about the full 20. Maybe there's some clause that automatically says once it starts it continues for the full Tier. Still have to gather more info on this to get a clearer picture of the rules, but glad to hear this has worked out for you.

I didn't get a definite reply on anything. I didn't ask AIW anything. From my reading of the rules, it appears to me that I will go from 7 weeks of Tier 1 to 20 weeks of this new Tier in this new bill. Tier 2 benefits are 13 weeks,, and Tier 2 will be expired by the time I get there. I don't exhaust my Tier 1 benefits in time to be eligible for Tier 2. But I've heard stories of people just being given both Tiers 1 and 2 at the same time.

So I don't know.

Either way it should be enough time to get a job. My biggest concern was making the deadline for EUC in the first place.

Currently my Tier II benefits will end sometime in the second week of December... so then Tier III will automatically kick in for 20 more weeks? Is that correct? Assuming ofcourse everything gets signed in a timely manner.

The House has started it's vote on H.R. 3548...

House passes, Obama signs next week, next we get eligibility date next week, Im thinking accounts will start showing updated with the EUC credits in 4-5 weeks tops. This theory is based on how things progressed last year with Bushs' EUC extension. Dont believe that bullshit about January, February etc that people are flaming about on other boards. Stay tuned here for more information as we pry it from their grasping claws like a few of us here did 6 months ago

Hello UIO i finally found the place to be! Yes! listen, when they are talking about 20 weeks. does that mean we will get the amount of monies that belong in 20 weeks? oh boy, am i confused here, because my last EB i only got about 4.500, so if they go by the last EB amount i won't get no 20 weeks, i think the person that told me that is not very knowledgeable about this, it does not make sense to go by the EB amount, right? I HOPE NOT. Please let me know at your convenience!

MiamiVice wrote:Hello UIO i finally found the place to be! Yes! listen, when they are talking about 20 weeks. does that mean we will get the amount of monies that belong in 20 weeks? oh boy, am i confused here, because my last EB i only got about 4.500, so if they go by the last EB amount i won't get no 20 weeks, i think the person that told me that is not very knowledgeable about this, it does not make sense to go by the EB amount, right? I HOPE NOT. Please let me know at your convenience!

Well, if you figure by the max EB amount, you received 4500, roughly 80% of the max EB amount. When the EUC last year was put in place the first tier was 50% of your original claim not to exceed 13 weeks(which was in July 2008), the 2nd tier EUC was 80% of your original claim not to exceed 20 weeks(which was in November 2008).

Using that math, and the fact that the EUC would be up to 20 weeks, its pretty safe to say that you can approximate your new EUC amount by taking 80% of your original claim and then dividing by $275 to determine the amount of weeks you will receive with this latest EUC extension since this is exactly how the last EUC was determined.

For people who cant find your original claim amount or who cant do the math, then I suggest you wait till this bill walks through the appropriate steps and I am sure AWI will mail you a notice advising on how many weeks you are eligible for.

Also one thing to keep in mind, those who received EUC last year, one of the req with the last round of EUC is that you started a claim after May 2, 2006. Now if that date moves ahead about a year or 15 months to say May 2007+ beats me although I doubt people who have been unemployed 3 1/2 years would be able to get this round

i have been unemployed since mar 2007 so will i be eligable????????????

tj21121008 wrote:i have been unemployed since mar 2007 so will i be eligable????????????

Sorry but I do not work for AWI nor know the details Please keep monitoring the board as we will post any new information we come across. I will be calling Tallahassee and also calling upon Jim Stratton if need be to try and get us some preliminary information.

Thanks for ur most informative info, UIO, aren't u sweet! I did not become unemployed until April 14, 2008. that was my last day of work and the day I reported to my first Unemployment comp,. claim!

The president just announced from the Rose Garden that its official and he has signed off on the bill.

However, dont start celebrating quite yet.....

Here is what we are learning from AWI as of today...

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_blogonomics/2009/11/could-be-six-weeks-before-jobless-get-checks-from-latest-extension.html

EB round 2!!

Maybe the State of Florida is saying 4 to 6 weeks to keep themselves out of the hot water associated with over promising and under delivering. In my eternal optimism I am actually hoping those numbers reflect under promising! Otherwise who wants to join the caravan and head to North Dakota? With an astounding unemployment rate of 4.2 it appears to be the lowest (correct me if I missed a lower one!) But seriously - my heart goes out to my fellow Floridians (in and out of the state!) I haven't posted a lot since my EB got straightened out in late July but I follow the boards and read the stories. I feel for so many of you that have exhausted every opportunity and are still waiting for any tiny sign of hope.

i spoke to a rep at awi asked if i qualified for ex and she didnt even know that the bill went back to the house to be passed!!!!!!!!!! i have been unemployed since march 2007 and someone told me on the washington post that he heard that you had to have filed a new claim dec2007 and beyond to qualify now i have searched all over and cant find anything like that ..any oppinons??????awi dont even know it went back to the house wtf i hope thats not a reflection on howthey are going to handle this!!!!!!!!!

Stratton's right about the 4-6 weeks. AWI posted that figure on their site today under the announcement that the President signed the bill. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they can do it in half that time and that this is just a CYA move on AWI's part!

Please allow me to clear up a few things about this bill so we can cut down on the panic and worry for some. First, I cannot answer all questions about how this bill works in conjunction with current laws for people who are more recently unemployed. (NELP will soon be coming out with a FAQ that hopefully will clear up some of those tangled matters.) But I can answer questions about those who have already run out of EUC or EB now, or will run out before the end of this year.

First, I don't know where that Washington Post person got their info, but it's totally bogus. I just re-read the actual revised bill that just passed, just to make sure I had the right info to post here--it is at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3548/text?version=eas if you want to plow through the jargon (read the latest version engrossed in the Senate), or there may be good summaries posted elsewhere.

1) There is no backward cutoff in this bill that will disqualify anyone who is running out of EB or EUC (or already has) right now--that would be all of us who went through the extensions as they came about, first in summer '08, then the Bush-signed Tiers, then EB (not for all states). I myself will qualify for this extension, and as hard as it may be to believe, my original benefit year began in May 2006!!! The qualifying date for eligibility for the first Tier, which is just a few weeks before I began my own benefit year, is the SAME as for this new bill. So if you got Tier 1, unless you are disqualified for a new benefit year from working in between--you WILL get this extension.

2) NELP has cleared up some confusion on their NELP.org site (link to the unemployed workers site from their main page) about concerns about the December deadlines talked about on the forums. Essentially they explain that we don't have to worry about that, if we qualify for the 14 weeks, we will get the extra 6, assuming the unemployment rate stays above 8.5%. (Can anyone imagine that rate dropping so fast in the next 6-12 months? In our dreams.) We're "grandfathered in," so to speak.

Let me emphasize that I'm speaking specifically to the long term unemployed in this post. There will be many who were more recently unemployed who will have lots of questions about how their benefits overlap now with the various laws, and right now that's a confusing maze that we hope to see worked out by DOL and conveyed to the state agencies, and probably with clarifications to us from NELP in the near future. Bottom line: if you got Tier 1, you get these new Tiers, 20 weeks (or whatever percentage you are entitled to if you have not had the maximum in your account for the previous extensions).

Now we have to suffer the delays from AWI, no great reassurances from me on that one!

Tampa Bay - Anna wrote:Stratton's right about the 4-6 weeks. AWI posted that figure on their site today under the announcement that the President signed the bill. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they can do it in half that time and that this is just a CYA move on AWI's part!

I have been doing some thinking on this and the way I figure it ( and I can no doubt be verrrrry wrong), those that have run out of all benefits would qualify immediately for the "14th" week since the bill was signed before the Saturday cutoff for this week. However, we wouldn't qualify for the 1st 2 weeks of Tier 3 until 2 weeks from today. This means that we couldn't even claim those two weeks until 2 weeks from this Mon/Tues. While I would rather see AWI saying this will be up and running in 2-3 weeks, we won't be that far behind if it does take them a month. That said, while most of us need cash NOW, at least the funds will be retroactive to this week and we should all see a substantial check the first time which would enable us to catch up on Nov bills and/or repay money we have to borrow somewhere to pay them now. I know this doesn't help those whose are farther behind but it is something that makes this wait a little more palatable.

While I know how lucky I am personally to have an understanding landlord, most bills left not due til the end of Nov, foodstamps and family that can help even if it is difficult for them, my heart goes out to those not so lucky. Hopefully, we will all come thru this beat-up but surviving.

Im pretty confident there will be no retro pay, just an established eligibility date.

Funny.....so now it will only be a 45 minute wait time just to be connected with someone who will tell you the bill hasnt passed

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November 6, 2009 - UPDATED 3:00 p.m.
Agency Extends Customer Service Hotline Hours
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