BATON ROUGE – All eligible individuals who are currently receiving unemployment benefits for weeks ending January 2, 2021, through March 13, 2021, are also eligible to receive the additional Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC). The amount of the FPUC payments will be $300 per week.

The FPUC payments will be processed in addition to the weekly benefit amounts for other UI programs.

There will not be a missed payment due to the CARES Act expiring on December 26, 2020, and the new bill being signed into law on December 27, 2020. CARES Act recipients will have their prior claim restored and will be able to continue receiving benefits as before.

Louisiana is among the first states to begin issuing the extended CARES Act funding as the nation continues to respond to COVID-19. Since the onset of the pandemic the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) has distributed about $7 billion in funds to nearly 700,000 Louisianans.

The $300 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments will be an addition to a claimant’s Weekly Benefit Amount in any of the following programs:

• State Unemployment Insurance (UI)

• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

• Extended Benefits (EB)

• Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA)

• Trade Readjustment Assistance (TRA)

All current claimants have received information on FPUC payments in their HiRE account. LWC encourages everyone to monitor their account online, read all notices and follow instructions carefully: louisianaworks.net/hire

This article originally appeared on Leesville Daily Leader: LWC actively distributing $300 federal pandemic unemployment compensation