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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, May 11, 2020
CONTACT: DWD Communications, 608-266-2722
On the Web: http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/news/
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WIWorkforce
On Twitter: @WIWorkforce

DWD Completes FPUC Back Payments

MADISON – The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced that it distributed all approved Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) back payments at the end of last week, totaling over $490 million.

DWD began paying weekly FPUC benefits the week of April 26. All told, the state has distributed more than $587 million in FPUC benefits as of May 9.

FPUC is a temporary emergency increase of $600 per week in unemployment benefits. FPUC provides additional payment to individuals who are collecting benefits from ANY of the following programs:

Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI), including:

Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE)
Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service members (UCX)

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
Work-Share (STC)
Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA)

Claimants DO NOT need to take any action for the additional $600 per week benefit; the payment is automatically added to his or her benefit payment.

This means that if an individual has a pending unemployment application or currently receiving unemployment benefits, no action needs to be taken, so long as that individual's circumstances have not changed and he or she remains eligible and continues to file a weekly claim. Claimants receive the $600 benefit in the same way he or she receives regular unemployment benefit.

DWD has not paid FPUC benefits to claimants who have a hold on their account due to an eligibility question. There are approximately 7,500 weeks of payment with holds, representing just over 1% of total approved weeks of FPUC payments. Once DWD investigates the issue and, if it is determined the claimant is eligible, then the claimant will receive FPUC benefits, including any backpay.

DWD dispersed more than $550 million in unemployment benefits, which includes over $490 million in FPUC money for the week of May 3 to May 9, 2020. Almost 260,000 claimants received their benefits that same week. The amount distributed is the largest DWD has ever paid in a single week.

For more information, please visit https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/uiben/fpuc/