First Round of Checks Going Out This Week for the Lost Wages Assistance Program

Checks for those qualified to receive payments from the Lost Wages Assistance program will begin going out this week.

The Georgia Department of Labor has announced that claimants who qualify for the Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program will be issued their first round of supplemental payments this week for the first three eligible weeks.

The Lost Wages Assistance is a program that receives funding from the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Disaster Relief Fund and allows distribution of an additional $300 weekly supplement to eligible individuals receiving unemployment benefits from state and federal unemployment insurance programs.

FEMA announced late last week that all states will be limited to six weeks of benefits and the Georgia Department of Labor recently received approval for all six weeks of benefits.

The program applies to the weeks ending Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15, Aug. 22, Aug. 29, and Sept. 5.
Claimants will not receive a lump sum of $1800.
Instead, payments will be sent out in two batches of three weeks’ worth of payments or $900 each and only if they qualify for each of those weeks.
The Dept of Labor plans to issue the final three weeks’ worth of payments by late next week.

Eligibility for the LWA Program is based upon an individual’s weekly benefit determination – an amount calculated by a claimant’s reported wages.

Individuals must have received a weekly benefit amount determination of at least $100 to be eligible for LWA supplemental benefits.

Additionally, they must also be unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To see if you are eligible for the Lost Wages Assistance program, you can go online to the Department of Labor’s My U.I. portal and use a link to attest to the reason for your unemployment.