I had to write about this as I do not see any other channels covering it. Illinois” unemployment department (IDES) ran into many issues since the pandemic began. The issues ranged anywhere from the unemployed waiting to receive benefits for weeks and sometimes months, to waiting for a “callback” to speak with a live agent many of whom were undertrained and therefore often unhelpful…leading to financially painful benefits’ documentation issues for struggling Americans.
This has been going on for months, and although most residents understand that it has not been an easy task for Illinois to implement some of the federal programs (PUA and PEUC), it seems as though that the people on top have not done much to prepare themselves for an impending benefit distribution disaster.
Many currently unemployed started receiving their payments back in March 2020 shortly after the pandemic began. As unemployment entitlement benefits last exactly a year, many of those currently unemployed would see their benefits stop exactly after their benefit year-end date. If you are unsure what your benefit year end-date is, log on to your IDES account and pull up any payment history. On top of the page, you will see your Claimant ID and your benefit year end date. That date is crucial because that is the last day for which most of you you will receive benefits.
However, technically, since President Biden signed the new relief bill last week, your benefit extensions should remain active until the first week of September 2021. This makes many people believe in case they are unable to secure a new employment anytime soon, they would keep receiving benefits without interruption, right? Wrong! This is exactly where the problem begins!
If you have not worked at all since last year when you started receiving unemployment, you will have to CALL and physcally speak to an agent before those new “extensions” can resume. Most unemployed Americans did not work at all since last March. Therefore, this warning goes to hundreds of thousands of people. This also means that you will have to put yourself on a callback list soon, and hope that someone calls you back only a few days after your benefit year ends. Remember, if you have not worked since last year, regardless of whether you have a balance in your unemployment account, you will NOT receive benefits unless you speak to someone. Only a live person can put you on a transitional claim (PUA/PEUC/EB). Unless you do that, you’d receive nothing. No $300 boost, no regular payment….zilch!
There will not be any automatic continuation of the extension. At this point when Americans are struggling to make ends meet, you’d think that our state government would be on top of their game, and that they would do everything they can to help Illinois residents. You’d expect they would make these extensions automatic as long as the claimants are certifying for benefits as “still unemployed”. You’d hope that someone in the government would know about this very well, and bring up this issue with Governor Pritzker and the IDES.
This may not apply to you IF you’ve worked part-time [and have made 3x your Weekly Benefit Amount) or were unemployed on and off since you first started receiving unemployment. But, the percentage of those people is low.
You might be asking what you can possibly do right now. First: check that benefit year end-date in your payment history. If you have not worked since you started receiving unemployment, you can be sure that your benefits would stop after that date. Second: Put yourself on a callback list right away if you are not on one already. Third: if you receive a call after your benefit year ends, request the agent to put you on a “transitional claim” based on whatever extensions are available for you (PUA or PEUC depending on the type of your initial claim). Keep certifying if you can even if your benefits stop.
Reminder: the agent can put you on an extension ONLY AFTER that benefit year-end date. Not a day before! There is no way for them to “push it through”.
You can also write to the Governor’s office and share this if you’d like. Nobody in this country should have to wait to receive unemployment benefits in the middle of a pandemic while their income has been slashed to almost nothing due to no fault of their own. People have endured enough since last year. They do not need any more financial stress.
Also, please share this with anyone you know who’s currently unemployed in Illinois so they are aware. I do not make money from you sharing this. There is no ad here. This post is not designed to the bash the IDES as I understand implementing some of these changes into a set algorithm is difficult. However, something could be done so this does not happen. I am just a citizen journalist trying to help my fellow Americans!
Be kind to each other!
