LINCOLN – At a news conference on Monday, Governor Ricketts detailed new unemployment programs being implemented in Nebraska as a result of federal legislation to aid the pandemic response. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on March 27, 2020.
The Governor explained that the Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) is undertaking software changes and making other preparations to roll out the unemployment programs outlined in the CARES Act. Nebraska’s Labor Commissioner, John Albin, is working directly with the U.S. Department of Labor to expedite implementation of the unemployment programs. Commissioner Albin joined the Governor to overview the unemployment programs contained in the CARES Act and to report on the State’s preparations to administer them.
Those programs include:
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – Allows unemployment benefits to individuals who have exhausted all other unemployment benefits, and those not eligible for other unemployment benefits, including workers who are self-employed and independent contractors. The minimum PUA weekly payment will be $174 and top out at $440.
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – This emergency increase in Unemployment Insurance Benefits adds $600 per week in federal benefits to the unemployment benefit amount for COVID-19 unemployment claims, including PUA claims.
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – Allows 13 weeks of federally funded benefits to be added to the end of the normal 26 weeks of benefits.
- Short Time Compensation Programs (also known as Work Share) – Provides federal funding of Short-Time Compensation, a program that allows businesses to uniformly reduce their teammates’ hours while the workers receive a partial unemployment benefit.
With restaurant workers being some of the most impacted by restrictions caused by the pandemic, Governor Ricketts also signed a proclamation to designate every Tuesday from March 31st through the end of April 2020 as “Takeout Tuesday.” The purpose of the proclamation is to encourage Nebraskans to support their local dining establishments as these restaurants continue to serve takeout and delivery options to their customers during the pandemic.
R.J. Vega, with Copal restaurant in Lincoln, thanked the Governor for the proclamation during the press conference. Vega described the challenges restaurants have faced due to the coronavirus public health emergency. Servers, bartenders, and hourly staff have had their lives profoundly impacted. Restaurants are struggling to make payroll and keep the lights on.
