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Detroit Free Press
July 21, 2008 |
Todd Spangler
Staff Writer |
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Unemployment Extension Checks to Arrive Soon |
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Michiganders who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits since early November 2007 could begin receiving extension checks this week with the state beginning to send them out Tuesday.
That’s the word today from Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency and Rep. Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who helped push for the congressionally mandated extension.
According to both, the 13-week extension is available to people who first claimed unemployment benefits on or after May 7, 2006 – meaning they would have exhausted their initial 26 weeks of benefits as of Nov. 5, 2007. Anyone who exhausts there benefits between that date and March 28 of next year would be eligible for the extension, which is being covered by a federal government trust fund.
The extensions are available to every state but that are particularly valuable in Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 8.5%.
The state UIA sent 212,000 applications out to people whose benefits have already expired during the eligibility period and has no estimate of how many people it ultimately may benefit in Michigan.
Michigan uses an automated phone system for people to certify for unemployment benefits, with a schedule for calling every other week based on the beneficiary’s Social Security number. For information on that system and the unemployment extension program in Michigan, go to http://www.michigan.gov/uia.
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To Contact Congressman Levin: -
Email Congressman Levin In Michigan: 27085 Gratiot Ave, Roseville, MI 48066 | (586) 498-7122 | (248) 968-2025
In Washington: 1236 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 225-4961
