Number of Tier I EUC Benefit Weeks Reduced
Tier I of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Will Be 14 Additional Weeks
For Immediate Release
August 30, 2012
Contact: Joy Forehand
505.841.8450
Number of Tier I EUC Benefit Weeks Reduced
Tier I of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Will Be 14 Additional Weeks
(Albuquerque, NM) – The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions announced that individuals filing a Tier 1 Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) claim with an effective date of September 2, 2012 or later will be eligible for a maximum of 14 weeks of Tier 1 EUC, not 20 weeks. Those Unemployment Insurance claimants currently on Tier I benefits or eligible to claim Tier I benefits before September 2 will continue to receive Tier I payments up to 20 weeks, as part of a phase-out period. This is in accordance with the provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-96) signed into law by the President in February of this year. After September 2, the total maximum period that an Unemployment Insurance claimant can be potentially be eligible for benefits in New Mexico will be 54 weeks.
“The changes stipulated in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act affects the unemployment rate triggers associated with the EUC Tiers, as we saw with Tier III benefits this summer, but also gradually reduces the number of weeks associated with several of the tiers,” said Celina Bussey, Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. “As the department implements these changes to the EUC program, we encourage UI claimants to take advantage of all of the services available at the New Mexico Workforce Connection Centers around the state or via the online Workforce Connection system available through our website at www.dws.state.nm.us.”
EUC provides additional weeks of benefits to people who have exhausted all of their regular unemployment benefits, 26 weeks. The weekly benefit amount is the same as a claimant’s regular unemployment benefits, and EUC benefits are funded 100 percent by the federal government. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, the eleventh piece of EUC legislation, was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in February 2012. The new law stipulated a number of changes to the EUC program, including new triggers for certain tier extensions and reduced number of weeks for several of the tiers through the end of December 2012.
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