Unemployment Benefits to End With "Fiscal Cliff"
By
Amy Quinton
Monday, November 19, 2012
Listen Now:
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Federal unemployment benefits are scheduled to end on December 29th if Congress and the President avoid the “fiscal cliff”. It could affect an estimated 400-thousand Californians.
The federal extension of benefits provides up to 73 weeks of assistance for the unemployed once state benefits run out.
Given the uncertainty of the fiscal future, the California Employment Development Department is sending notices to alert the nearly half million Californians whose benefits could end.
The Department's Loree Levy.
LEVY: "So that means no further federal extension benefits can be paid even if someone has a remaining balance on a federal extension claim and because of that sudden stop in those benefits we really want to make sure people understand that this is coming up and they have the time to plan accordingly."
The federal extension program has paid more than $40-billion
in benefits to jobless Californians over the past four years.
The state will still provide up to 26 weeks of assistance for
the recently unemployed.