As some unemployment expires, Washington issues $550 payment

OLYMPIA — More than 94,000 unemployed people in Washington are set to get a one-time $550 payment later this week, Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday.

He announced the new payment as an emergency backup to the lapsed federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits that expire this month for 94,555 people who were receiving those funds don’t need to do anything to be eligible.

“We are providing a bridge for some Washingtonians until the federal government finally acts,” Inslee wrote on Twitter. “In our state, we prepared for the possibility of a lapse in benefits and in anticipating it, we developed a plan for a one-time payment for those who have been receiving PUA benefits.”

The payments totaling $54 million will come out of CARES Act funds the state received.

People who submitted a PUA claim for the week ending Nov. 21 and were paid for that week on or before Dec. 24 should receive the money, which is about two weeks of benefits for most PUA recipients.

The Washington State Employment Security Department expects to issue the funds starting Wednesday.

“We know how critical these payments are to individuals and families across the state and we’re grateful to the governor for his leadership on this,” said Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine. “The team at ESD has been working around the clock to get this new program ready. We will issue these one-time payments this week so that eligible claimants will have the funds as they head into the New Year.”

People with a pending issue for their claim or receiving regular unemployment benefits, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) or Extended Benefits (EB) won’t get the payment.

Those who have the state withhold taxes from their other benefit payments will receive $495 of the $550 total.

Statewide, thousands of people remain out of work. Between Dec. 13 and 19, 17,596 initial unemployment claims were filed, a small decrease from previous weeks this month, according to statistics from the Employment Security Department. In Snohomish County, there were 1,659 claims filed that week.