Wyoming, like many other states in the United States, will sometimes participate in extended unemployment benefit programs to offer additional support to residents who have exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits. These programs are typically created to financially assist unemployed individuals during extenuating economic circumstances.
Are Extended Benefits currently available in Wyoming?
Wyoming does not currently offer any extended unemployment insurance benefits beyond 26 weeks.
Wyoming Extended Benefit (EB) Program
During periods of high unemployment or natural disaster, Wyoming’s Extended Benefit (EB) program may be implemented to offer additional benefits to claimants who have exhausted their conventional unemployment insurance benefits. Extended benefits are typically funded at the federal level and administered by the state.
In order to be eligible, claimants must have exhausted their 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits. Once extended benefits are available, qualified workers will be notified and invited to apply. Eligible claimants can receive up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment insurance compensation.
Wyoming Disaster Unemployment Assistance
In 1974, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act was created to help people who are unemployed because of a natural disaster. The U.S. Department of Labor manages the program and works with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to give money to the state agencies that handle unemployment benefits. Disaster Unemployment Assistance provides benefits to people who lost their income because of the disaster, and also pays for the costs of running the program in each state.
This program is only available to workers who would not otherwise be eligible for regular unemployment benefits.
Short Time Compensation Program
The Wyoming State Legislature recently passed House Bill 0009. This bill created the Short Time Compensation Program. It’s designed to help workers and businesses during tough economic times.
Short Time Compensation allows companies to cut back on the hours they give their employees. If this happens, workers can get some money from Wyoming’s Unemployment Insurance program to make up for the lost income. This is good for both the worker and the employer. The worker receives supplementary income and keeps their job, while the employer can save money without having to find new workers. This way, when business picks up again, the business won’t have to spend time training new workers.
Short Time Compensation can be used whenever a company is having a slow period. The employer can cut back the hours of two or more workers to save money on their pay. If the workers lose money, they can file for Unemployment Insurance and get a portion of their lost wages back. The program doesn’t replace all the money they lost, but it does help them cover their expenses without having to find a new job.
CARES Act and American Rescue Plan
During the COVID pandemic, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and later, the American Rescue Plan to provide financial help to struggling American workers. These laws gave the state of Wyoming more than $1.25 billion to help unemployed workers during the COVID pandemic. Wyoming ended its participation in these programs effective June 19, 2021.
These laws created several benefit programs, including:
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
If you were unemployed due to COVID-19 and didn’t receive regular UI benefits because you were self-employed or a contract worker, you might have been eligible to receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). To be eligible for PUA, you had to be out of work because of COVID-19 and ready to work.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
If you ran out of regular unemployment during the Covid-19 pandemic, you could apply for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). This program gave you an extra 13 weeks of benefits in Wyoming. The minimum amount of money claimants were eligible to receive every week in Wyoming was $193.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) was a special program created to help millions of American workers who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program gave unemployed individuals an additional $600 per week, in addition to state-run unemployment insurance programs.
Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation
Wyoming also opted into the Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation program. The Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) was a federal program that aimed to give people who received unemployment benefits an extra $100 per week if they made at least $5,000 through self-employment the year before they asked for help.