New Jersey residents on unemployment will no longer have to file a new claim once they reach their one-year benefit mark, the state Labor Department announced Wednesday.
That’s important news for hundreds of thousands of residents who are set to hit that mark in the coming weeks as the state approaches the one-year anniversary of the mid-March shutdown.
The state Labor Department is advising claimants coming up on the one-year anniversary they should not file a new claim and to continue certifying for weekly benefits. The new programming the department put in place will allow the department to complete the federally mandated review of year-end claims on a large scale, Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said.
“Our goal is for this to be seamless for most claimants,” said Asaro-Angelo. “Claimants do not need to take any action other than to continue to certify for weekly benefits according to the schedule.”
Claimants who file a new claim will see their benefits delayed, the department warns.
While a few thousand claimants reach their benefit year mark every week, there will be a flood of claimants who filed for benefits hitting the year mark because the state effectively shut down in mid-March 2020.
Once that grim milestone approaches — for many, March 15 — more than 100,000 claims will need to be reviewed weekly, the department said in a press release. It’s been a growing worry for the thousands of claimants who continue relying on unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted the job market and economy.
“Our Department has been planning for this eventuality for months,” Asaro-Angelo added. “We have the programming in place to complete the historic volume of year-end claim reviews federal law requires.”
To qualify for a new claim, workers have to have earned at least $220 per week for 20 or more weeks during their base year, or $11,000. The Labor Department qualifies a base year as the first four of the five prior quarters before a claim was filed, so if a new claim was filed in March, the base year is from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020. Claims that hit the year-end mark in April through June will have a base year from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020.
The department will only be contacting individual claimants if additional earnings or other information is needed for a new claim. Those who have recently reached the end of their benefit year are being reviewed, and once the review is complete, will receive confirmation that their certification was successful when they claim their weekly benefits.
Unemployment claimants have seen technical problems with their claims over the last year, including problems certifying or receiving new federal extensions. More than 2 million claims have been filed seeking unemployment benefits since March 2020, more than any other point in history.
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Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com.
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N.J. residents hitting 1-year mark for unemployment will not have to file new claim, Labor Department says - NJ.com
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