State Extended Benefit Unemployment Insurance Program Has Ended

Georgia’s Unemployment Rate continues to drop, which means more jobs are opening up and more people are returning to work but that also means the State’s unemployment rate has fallen below the threshold for the State Extended Benefit (SEB) program to remain available for payments.

The last payable week for extended unemployment benefits ended Saturday.

Any eligible payments for week ending dates after Feb. 6, 2021, will no longer be payable under the State Extended Benefit program.

According to State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler anyone who filed a claim under the SEB program before February 6 will be paid SEB for those weeks.

Those who were receiving payments under the State Extended Benefits program and are still unemployed but are still eligible will have 11 additional weeks added to their previous Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) claim.

Butler said the US Department of Labor approved Georgia to issue SEB in May of 2020, but informed the Georgia Department of Labor last week that the program would end February 6.

The GDOL issued over $238 million last week to Georgians as the agency continues to implement the multiple phases of the Continued Assistance Act (CAA) included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 providing extended benefits for claimants on PEUC and PUA.