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  2. News Room
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Tony Evers, Governor
Caleb Frostman, Secretary

Department of Workforce Development
Secretary's Office
201 E. Washington Avenue
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707-7946
Telephone: (608) 266-3131
Fax: (608) 266-1784
Email: sec@dwd.wisconsin.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 14, 2019
CONTACT: DWD Communications, 608-266-2722
On the Web: http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/news/
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WIWorkforce
On Twitter: @WIWorkforce

Wisconsin Ready to Assist Furloughed Federal Employees

Workers can access unemployment funds during partial shutdown

MADISON – Federal employees in Wisconsin can apply for unemployment benefits to help meet their financial needs while they wait for work to resume.

"We are ready to assist any federal employee that is facing a lack of work and income due to the partial shutdown," said Department of Workforce Development Secretary-designee Caleb Frostman. "Furloughed federal workers are dislocated workers, unemployed through no fault of their own and can apply for unemployment."

Federal employees can apply for unemployment through DWD's online UI benefit system at my.unemployment.wisconsin.gov.

Because many federal offices are currently closed, furloughed workers should be prepared to provide wage verification in the form of pay stubs or a W-2 form as DWD may be unable to verify wages through the employer.

Federal workers that are working full time but are not being paid during the partial shutdown are not eligible for unemployment benefits.

There are more than 29,000 federal employees in Wisconsin. Per preliminary counts, DWD's unemployment division fielded roughly 426 total initial and continued unemployment compensation claims between Jan. 7 and Jan. 11, 2019.

As required by law, workers who receive back pay should plan to repay any unemployment benefits received.