On May 11, 2021, Governor Kim Reynolds announced new steps to address Iowa's workforce shortage. Effective June 12, 2021, the State of Iowa ended its participation in federal pandemic-related unemployment benefit programs. On that same date, Iowa stopped participating in the federal Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PEUC) program. The last payable week for PEUC was the week ending June 12, 2021.
PEUC is a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 that provides unemployment insurance benefits to individuals who have exhausted their state unemployment insurance entitlement. PEUC is funded by the federal government, not by state unemployment taxes paid by employers.
Important:
If you are notified that your benefit year has expired, you must file a new claim online. This is to determine your continued eligibility.
States are required to determine if you are eligible for a state unemployment insurance claim when your benefit year expires. If you are determined to be ineligible for a new benefit year, you can be placed back on PEUC.
The process for filing for a new benefit year may take a few weeks to complete. However, you would be paid for any weeks you are eligible for as long as you remain eligible and continue to file your weekly claim.
PEUC provides extended unemployment benefits for a claimant who has previously exhausted their benefits.
Provides potential weeks up through June 12, 2021. No benefits will be paid for any weeks after June 12, 2021, even if you have a remaining balance on your claim.
Individuals are eligible for the same amount of unemployment insurance benefit payment from the previous weeks they received.
If you knowingly make or cause another person to make a false statement or knowingly fail or cause another person to fail to disclose a material fact and, as a result, receive an amount of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation to which you are not entitled, you will be subject to prosecution under 19 section 1001 of Title 18, United States Code.
An individual found to have committed fraud and subsequently disqualified for a week (or weeks) of unemployment insurance that included a payment of PEUC will be ineligible to receive any extra payments of PEUC in the future following that disqualification.
Quitting work without cause to get extra benefits under the regular UI program or the CARES Act qualifies as fraud. If you get these benefits through fraud, you will be ineligible for any extra benefit payments, must pay back the benefits, and are subject to criminal prosecution under section 1001 of Title 18, United States Code.
Intentional misrepresentation in the reporting of earnings earned during a given week on one’s continued weekly claim for unemployment insurance can result in finding of fraud, a disqualification from benefits, and an overpayment of benefits, as well as other penalties and potential criminal prosecution.
You will not be charged for benefits paid to employees receiving PEUC.
If you have offered work to employees as the pandemic ends and your employee refuses to return to work, you must notify Iowa Workforce Development.
You must ensure you are current and timely in the filing of your quarterly unemployment insurance reports so your employees receive benefits as quickly as possible.
You must respond to all Notice of Claims (65-5317) or SIDES notifications if a claim is filed for someone that is not working due to a reason other than COVID-19.
You must respond to the Notice of Claim (65-5317) or SIDES notification to report any paid sick leave or other paid leave benefits.
Your claim will be reviewed to determine if you are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. If you have exhausted benefits and are unable to file a new claim until your current benefit year expires, you will be eligible for up to 13 weeks of extra benefits through the PEUC program.
When receiving a payment one PEUC program, you will still need to report your weekly claim each week to be paid. You will be paid through the same payment method that you were paid on other benefits.
When your claim expires, you will be required to file a new claim, even if you have a remaining balance of PEUC.
To be eligible for benefits under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program, individuals must:
Have exhausted all state or federal unemployment insurance benefit payments.
Be able and available to work and actively seeking work, unless unable to do so due to COVID-19 related reasons.
Complete and keep a record of work searches (if your claim requires work searches).
Report any covered earnings earned during the week being claimed. Covered earnings include, but are not limited to:
Wages
Paid sick time
Vacation pay
Holiday pay
Those not eligible for Pandemic Emergency Employment Compensation include individuals who:
Have the ability to telework with pay and would still be working substantially the same number of hours and be receiving the same pay.
Are receiving paid sick leave or other paid leave benefits and those benefits would exceed their weekly amount of PEUC.
Are eligible for another state or federal unemployment program (including unemployment insurance (UI), Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE), Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), Extended Benefits (EB), and Short-Time Compensation/Voluntary Shared Work (STC/VSW)).
Child support obligations must be deducted from PEUC payments in the same way that they are to regular unemployment insurance benefits.
PEUC payments are taxable. These payments will be included on your 1099G that you receive for the 2020 tax year. Taxes will be withheld from PEUC payments if you have elected to have taxes withheld from your unemployment insurance benefits.
Notice to Claimants with a CARES Act Overpayment: A non-fraud overpayment of CARES Act benefits does not necessarily make you ineligible for future CARES Act benefits, even if future benefits may be offset to repay the overpayment. If you have received a notice of a non-fraud overpayment of CARES Act benefits, you are still eligible to apply for future benefits.
If you do not have an active unemployment insurance claim, file a claim online to re-activate your claim.
If you have recently filed an unemployment insurance claim and have exhausted your benefits, please contact us at 866-239-0843.
