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 Assistance (PUA) program. The last payable week for PUA was the week ending June 12, 2021.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 that provides temporary income to individuals who became unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To be eligible, impacted individuals also had to be either:
Self-employed
Someone with not enough work history to be eligible for a regular unemployment claim.
Someone who has exhausted all other forms of unemployment insurance benefits.
PUA 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 PUA.
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.
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.
You must either have a monetarily eligible state claim that has exhausted benefits or some work history within the last 18 months.
This includes any individual who was scheduled to start a job and couldn't due to COVID-19 and that they were ineligible at the time due to a separation issue on their claim.
PUA benefits for those who have a separation issue on their claim have not been implemented in Iowa.
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 PUA to which you are not entitled, you will be subject to prosecution under 19 section 1001 of Title 18, United States Code.
Quitting work without good cause to get UI benefits is fraud under PUA.
If, for reasons unrelated to COVID-19, you quit your job without good cause, are terminated for misconduct or refuse to work when work is available, you will be disqualified for benefits from any of the state or federal programs currently available. This means that to receive state or federal unemployment benefits, you must not take any action that causes you to be out of work that is unrelated to COVID-19.
Intentional misrepresentation in the reporting of earnings earned during a given week on your continued weekly claim for unemployment insurance can result in the 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 PUA.
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 should ensure they are current and timely in filing quarterly unemployment insurance taxes so their 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.
We will review your claim to determine if you have wages reported in Iowa to qualify for a regular unemployment insurance claim. You will receive a letter in the mail on a green sheet of paper to inform you if you are eligible. You may receive this letter after submitting your proof of income. The mailing of this letter is sent as a step in the process to ensure you are paid benefits on the correct unemployment insurance program. If you have already submitted proof of income, you do not need to act. You will be contacted if more information is available.
If you are self-employed and denied regular UI benefits, you will be required to submit proof of earnings online for Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) to determine your eligibility for PUA. Acceptable forms of proof are listed under “What Do I Need to Provide?”
Your weekly benefit amount and largest benefit amount of PUA will be based on the income from the documentation you provide to IWD.
When your claim expires, you will be required to file a new claim, even if you have a remaining balance of PUA.
To be eligible for benefits under the PUA, an individual:
Must not qualify for an unemployment insurance claim in another state or U.S. territory
Must be fully or partially unemployed for one of the qualifying COVID-19 reasons.
Must meet one of the following:
Must not be eligible for all other specific forms of unemployment insurance, including:
Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE)
Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX)
Short-Time Compensation/ Voluntary Shared Work (STC/ VSW)
Must have exhausted other forms of unemployment insurance listed above (if applicable).
Must have been self-employed and not eligible for one of the forms of unemployment insurance listed above.
Must have been scheduled to begin work for an employer and not be eligible for one of the forms of unemployment insurance listed above.
Must have been scheduled to begin self-employment and not be eligible for one of the forms of unemployment insurance.
To be eligible for PUA, you must be unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable or unavailable to work due to one of the following:
You have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and are seeking a medical diagnosis.
A member of your household has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
You are providing care for a family member or a member of your household who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
A child or other person in your household for which you have primary caregiving responsibility is unable to attend school or another facility that is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency and such school or facility care is required for the individual to work.
You are unable to reach your place of employment because of a quarantine imposed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
A health care provider advised you to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19, causing you to be unable to reach your place of employment.
You were scheduled to begin or start employment and do not have a job or are unable to reach the job as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
You have become the breadwinner or major support for a household because the head of household has died as a direct result of COVID-19.
You had to quit your job as a direct result of COVID 19; or
Your place of employment is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Those Not Eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance 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 PUA.
Are eligible for another state or federal unemployment program including:
UI
UCFE
UCX
PEUC
EB
STC/ VSW
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA)
Training Extension Benefits (TEB)
Question: I was approved for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, but I received a decision stating I have been overpaid unemployment insurance benefits. Why?
When the pandemic began, all claimants were paid regular, state-funded unemployment insurance benefits until the federal programs were set up. After the CARES Act was passed, it took some time for Iowa Workforce Development to set up the program and administer Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits, which are federally funded. The overpayment decision is for the state funds you received before the federal PUA program was set up. For technical reasons, we must first issue an overpayment decision on the state funds, even if you were eventually approved for PUA benefits that cover the same period.
Most PUA benefits have now been paid. However, due to an issue with our computer program, the agency was not able to release PUA funds for the same time period you received regular state unemployment insurance benefits. As soon as the computer issue is fixed, we released PUA payments for the time period you were approved for PUA benefits but received state benefits. Please note, the agency can only withhold 50 percent of your PUA benefits to offset the overpayment. The balance of the PUA payments you are owed will be disbursed to you and you may voluntarily use the money you receive to repay the remainder of the overpayment to Iowa Workforce Development.
For example:
Your weekly benefit amount for regular unemployment insurance benefits is $100, and you received 10 weeks of payments beginning March 29, 2020.
You were later found ineligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits. So, you applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. You were approved for PUA benefits effective March 29, 2020, and your weekly benefit amount for PUA benefits is $100.
You received an overpayment for regular unemployment insurance benefits for $1,000 for the 10 weeks of state benefits you received at the beginning of the pandemic. When the computer issues are resolved, we will withhold $500 in PUA benefits to offset the overpayment and will release the remaining $500 directly to you. You can use that money to pay off the rest of your overpayment.
