New Jersey (NJ DOL) Unemployment Benefits and State Stimulus Programs – Updates And Latest News on Missing Pandemic Payments and Retroactive Claim Processing

The NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJ DOL) via the Division of Unemployment Insurance (DUI) manages the state’s unemployment insurance program. This includes retroactive payments for the now expired pandemic unemployment programs.

New Jersey ANCHOR property tax rebates

Like many states, New Jersey is rolling out a tax rebate program for it’s residents. One such program is the ANCHOR program which expands eligibility via property tax rebates for those who owned or rented their principal residence (main home) as of October 1, 2019. The following are qualifying income limits.

  • Homeowners with income of $150,000 or less will receive $1,500.
  • Homeowners with income of more than $150,000 and up to $250,000 will receive $1,000.
  • Renters with income of $150,000 or less will receive $450.

You will need to apply by filing your ANCHOR benefit application by January 31, 2023, with direct deposit or rebates to be made by Spring of 2023.

Get your biggest tax refund, guaranteed. Get started today.

How Much Unemployment Can I Currently Get in New Jersey?

With the expiry the pandemic unemployment programs, only traditional/regular state unemployment is available for full or partial unemployment claims. The table below provides key details on the latest unemployment benefits and qualifying wage requirements.

You will need to submit a claim or certify your application via the state’s unemployment website (see section below on filing a claim) to get your actual weekly benefit amount.

Note that to qualify for unemployment, your job or hours worked loss will generally need to be involuntary. I.e. through no fault of your own or via directly quitting. Your job and wages must also have been paid/covered by an employer or source that deducted unemployment insurance taxes per state law (see your paycheck).

Further if you are being paid severance via a layoff or able to use sick leave or paid vacation, you cannot claim unemployment.

You will also need to certify for benefits at regular intervals (weekly or bi-weekly), demonstrate ongoing work availability and evidence of job search requirements to keep getting weekly unemployment benefits.

Weekly Unemployment Available with Dependents (Min – Max)$240 – $830
Dependency Benefits: 7% of WBA for first dependent, and 4% for each of the next two dependents (up to max amount)
Max number of Weeks covered in Benefit Year26
Minimum Qualifying Income over Base PeriodQualifying Gross Weekly Wage: At least $260 per week during 20 or more weeks in base period
Part-Time Income or Workers – UI benefits impactEarnings over 20% of a claimant’s WBA will reduce the amount of benefits paid dollar for dollar. You cannot work more than 80% of hours normally worked.
NJ Unemployment Benefits Summary (NJ DOL)

Why is my weekly benefit payment lower than the maximum amount?

Your actual weekly benefit amount or rate (WBA) is the amount of money your state agency has determined you and your dependents may receive for regular unemployment insurance after filing a claim. This can change weekly based on your certification or claim for benefits.

Your actual WBA is based on the amount that you earned over the states pre-defined base or alternate wage period, which are generally based on four out of the last five completed calendar quarters spanning 12 to 18 months.

The higher your earnings, the higher your approved WBA will be, up to the maximum amount allowed in the state. All earnings must be subject to UI tax (covered employment) to be eligible for factoring into your benefit determination.

Any part time or temporary earnings from employment or other activities during eligible weeks you are claiming and certifying for benefits, will potentially reduce the amount of benefits you may get.

Also note that that your state UI agency may deduct overpayments and court-ordered child support from your weekly payment. This will reduce your WBA.

What if I worked or lived in another state?

If you worked or lived in another state during the base year, you should file your unemployment benefits claim in the state you worked in and where your wages were reported. Not where you reside at the time of claim. You can file a claim in multiple states.

Your claim will be paid and governed by laws of that state in which you applied for. You will need to report this on your state and federal income taxes per form 1099-G issued by the state’s UI agency.

Claimants will also need to apply or reapply for UI benefits when they reach the end of their benefit year.

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Can I Still File a Claim for Back Dated Benefit Payments?

If you believe your claim should be backdated, you’ll need to contact the NJ DOL who will then schedule a fact-finding interview to determine if your claim can be backdated. You will still be able to receive benefits for weeks prior to September 4, if you are found eligible for a claim filed before September 4, 2021

If you are currently in an appeal or adjudication process, or have an appointment scheduled after the Sept. 4 program expiry, you should continue to certify weekly, follow NJ DOL instructions and monitor your email.

Claimants with pending decisions may still be paid retroactively for weeks before September 4th, 2021, if they are later deemed eligible.

Note that funds that appear as remaining in your unemployment account related to the federal enhanced unemployment programs will not be available for certification or payment for weeks of unemployment ending after September 4, 2021.

Federal Enhanced Benefits Have Ended in New Jersey

The NJ DOL has confirmed that claimants on the PEUC, PUA, MEUC and FPUC programs will file/certify for benefits for the last time covering the week ending September 4, 2021.

Any active claims, with or without remaining balances, will expire after this date and any weeks after Sep 5th will NOT be paid. The only exception are retroactive payments for validated claims after a successful determination or appeal.

While there has been a lot of discussion around extending pandemic unemployment benefits, the Biden administration has confirmed (see video) that states will have to use already allocated stimulus funding to expand or extend traditional state unemployment programs.

The NJ DOL has not indicated that is planning to do so at this stage and Governor Murphy recent stated the following in recent remarks confirming this position:

The proper way to extend federal UI benefits is through federal action, not a patchwork of state ones. It should be noted here that no state is extending this benefit beyond September 4th. The reality is that continuing the $300 per week benefit through state resources would be cost prohibitive. It would cost at current at least $314 million per week and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars more.

In other words, we’re talking about well more than $1 billion per month to maintain this benefit at its current level. Overall, the Department has put $33.7 billion directly into the accounts of nearly 1.6 million New Jerseyans since the start of the pandemic, of which $25 billion had been federal dollars. We have some of the most generous unemployment benefits in the country and God knows we needed them.

We recognize the impact that this will have one some families facing unemployment issues. To support New Jerseyans living through the economic impacts of the pandemic, we have invested in rent assistance, food assistance, childcare assistance, healthcare affordably – affordability assistance and other support programs. We have set up programs which are funded through billions of dollars of federal coronavirus relief funds.

Gov. Murphy

Some claimants may be eligible for State Extended Benefits (SEB), but after September 4th all claimants must have a regular UI claim to continue receiving benefits.

$300 Weekly Payment Delay Updates and News

Every few weeks there have been reports of payment glitches/delays in claimants getting the $300 supplementary benefit, which is in addition to their regular or enhanced unemployment payments. This is generally due to the following reasons:

  • Timing issues between the NJ DOL systems and their UI benefits payment processor (Bank of America). These “glitches” have been been getting resolved in 2 to 3 days in most cases.
  • Staggered certification schedule, which is impacted by system outages and upgrades that the NJ DOL is frequently doing. If this delays certification, then inevitable payment delays will follow.
  • Missing payments being caught up a week later due to the above issues. This results in some claimants seeing a double payment following a week of a missed payment
  • Pending Claims mean a 4 week delay. For claims whose status is showing as “Pending” means your claim has not filed yet and likely needs a NJ DOL agent to perform some kind of manual review. Keep checking daily until it changes to “Filed.” Claims that require agent intervention could take up to four weeks or longer due to the unprecedented volume of filings. NJDOL is currently processing agent intervention claims that were filed about one month ago – so this is why you are seeing a delay in payments.
  • Certification or Eligibility issues. If you see a message to call a regional center (via your portal or a mailed letter) it means no further processing can happen unless you call the NJ DOL at the specified number. This is likely to a certification or eligibility issue.

You can see recent examples and further feedback in the active comments forum below this article. I will post further updates as they come to light and you can stay connected via the options below.

Will New Jersey (NJ) Pandemic Unemployment Benefits be Extended Again in 2021 or End Early?

With several states ending federally funded unemployment benefits earlier than planned (see full list) to encourage workers to return to work, there is a strong concern this action could spread nationwide. But the good news for unemployed workers in New Jersey is that most of the states cancelling unemployment benefits are Republican controlled.

So it is highly likely that claimants in NJ will keep ALL pandemic unemployment benefits, including the extra $300 weekly payment, until the current program end date which would be the week ending September 4th, 2021.

However it should be noted that work search requirements are being more rigorously enforced by NJ DOL and there will be a lot more scrutiny of job rejections if not for pandemic or health related reasons.

Please also see the many comments at the end of the article where people have shared their stories, tips and struggles around getting paid under one or more of these enhanced benefit programs.


2021 Unemployment Program Extensions Under Biden ARPA Stimulus Package

Under President Biden’s $1.9 trillion federal coronavirus relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), enhanced unemployment benefits will be extended until September 6th. This would be the week ending September 4th, 2021 in New Jersey. This includes the following extensions:

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – The PUA program, designed for freelancers, gig workers and independent contractors or those that generally don’t qualify for regular state unemployment, has been extended to September 6th, 2021 (~25 weeks). This brings the total number of weeks in the program to 79. The minimum PUA payment is still 50% of a states average weekly benefit amount and limited to the state’s maximum weekly benefit amount (WBA).

Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – The new stimulus bill funds another 25 weeks of weekly supplementary/extra unemployment at the current $300 level. Payments for the $300 weekly payment will continue until early September for a total of 25 weeks and eligible claimants – those getting at least $1 from state and federal unemployment programs – can get a maximum of $7,500 if they qualify for all weeks covered in this new extension. The other $100 supplementary payment for Mixed Earners (MEUC) was also extended by 25 weeks.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – The PEUC program, which extends coverage for those who have exhausted regular and extended state unemployment, has also been extended until the week ending September 4th, 2021.

There also provisions in the Biden Stimulus package for Unemployment tax breaks on the first $10,200 of benefits.

NJ workers currently claiming federal benefits will receive an additional 25 weeks. Anyone currently receiving unemployment in any amount will also receive the $300 weekly supplemental benefit. We do not anticipate delays in providing these benefits to most claimants.

NJ DOL update

New Jersey NJ DOL Payment Status of 25-week Extensions – Latest News and Status on PUA, PEUC and $300 FPUC

The NJ DOL has implemented the 25 week extension of benefits to the PEUC and PUA programs. Anyone currently collecting unemployment in any amount will also receive the $300 FPUC supplemental benefit. There have however been some issues noted which you can also see discussed in the comments forum below this article. This includes:

  • There have been some delays in getting the $300 weekly payment. This has been due to technical glitches in many cases and payments hit account 1 to 2 days later.
  • Its still hard to get through to someone a live agent. Keep trying as in some instances you will need a live representative to manually progress your claim or to provide additional information to verify your claim.
  • Many are reporting scam emails to potential claimants asking for personal and private data. Do not share this online or to people you don’t know. Only go to the NJ DOL site to load documents and provide required certifications.
  • While the PUA and PEUC extensions are now available till Sep 4th, many people are reporting a lapse in benefits, which is mainly due to the need to provide additional documentation (PUA claimants) or not filing a new claim after you have reached your benefit year end (see below on what happens).
  • Some people who returned to work and stopped claiming benefits, but are now unemployed again are having a tough time reinstating claim due to manual checks the NJ DOL has to do, which is taking more time than expected. Retroactive payments will be made for eligible weeks but this is a known issue.

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Benefit Year End Reviews

All unemployment claims are required to be reviewed after one year per law. Claimants approaching the end of their benefit year should take no additional action. If your UI claim has been open more than one year then you need to be aware of the following actions:

  • DO NOT attempt to open a new claim.
  • DO continue to certify for weekly benefits according to the schedule.

The review of your claim will occur automatically; the NJ DOL will contact you only if more information is needed. If you recently reached the end of your benefit year, a review of your claim has been completed or is underway. When the review is complete, you will receive confirmation your weekly certification for benefits was successful.

NJ DOL Benefits Year End Renewal Process

2021 Unemployment Program Extensions Under COVID Relief Bill

The $900 billion COVID-19 relief package was passed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, which among several other pandemic relief measures extends and provides additional federal funding for enhanced unemployment benefits. This includes the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and a reinstatement, but halving of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) Program which provides a $300 supplemental weekly unemployment payment. I have also posted this video discussing the frustrations around the current $300 payment!

These programs have been funded and extended for 11 weeks (on top of any state funded extensions), covering the weeks of December 27th, 2020 to March 14th, 2021. To receive FPUC benefits, you must be receiving regular UI, PEUC, EB, or PUA.

NJ DOL 2021 11-week Extension Payment Details and Updates on $300 FPUC, PUA and PEUC

Update Feb 9th, 2021: NJDOL has (finally) successfully completed programming for the 11-week benefit extension for the over 75,000 expired PUA and PEUC claims. Claimants who had been waiting and are eligible to claim these 11-weeks should have been notified by email and can certify during their regular schedule once the extended weeks are added to their claim balance. If you have not received your notification AND cannot certify (online or via phone) in the next few days your claim is likely held up due to additional manual processing/verification or you were deemed ineligible. Some examples are further discussed in the comments below.

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Update Feb 3rd, 2021: Unemployed workers in NJ who have exhausted their PUA and PEUC benefits on or after Dec. 26, 2020 continue to face extended delays while the NJ DOL reprogram their antiquated and disparate UI systems to add the 11-week extension. These workers are also missing out on their $300 FPUC weekly payment and will have to wait for an official notification from NJ DOL to resume their weekly certification. Calling and trying to get this pushed through will not help, even if you can get through to someone.

There is no official target date for when NJ DOL will have this done, but I am expecting system updates to be in place by mid-February based on previous program rollouts and NJ DOL sources. Thousands are affected by this and I will continue to post updates across various platforms. I have also discussed more on this YouTube video covering the 2021 UI extension or the PUA extension delay reasons.

Missing 4th week $300 Payment for many (with active benefits): Many readers are reporting that they have not received their 4th week payment. NJ DOL on their social media is only confirming they have made 3 payments – so I suspect the system updates they are having to do for the PUA and PEUC programs have caused these delays. If payments don’t come this week, I imagine NJ DOL will make a double payment next week.

Update January 29th, 2021: NJ DOL has confirmed that they have made three weeks of the $300 FPUC payment to eligible claimants, with the fourth payment coming next week. However this is only for those who can certify and are currently getting state or federal benefits. Those who were getting federal benefits like PUA or PEUC but have now exhausted those benefits (zero claim balance) on or after Dec. 26, 2020 will see a gap in payments while the NJ DOL reprograms their systems to add the 11-week extension approved under the latest COVID relief bill.


DJ posted the following update on Jan 25th: DOL only deposited this week $300 for the week ending the 16th. Then the week ending Jan 23 we get next Monday. We wouldn’t ever get the week ending the 23rds payment today . Because they pay it only when they know you didn’t work.

So the only way you get paid the week of the 23rd is if you file by Saturday the 30th . And for the people saying it’s biweekly it’s not. $300 each week per official NJ DOL update below (some people are getting $600 because it included retroactive payments for missed weeks).

I just talked to someone on the phone at NJ DOL and the way it worked so far was for the weeks ending:
Jan 2nd $300
Jan 9th $300 (PAID $600 for 2 weeks On jan19th )
Jan 16th ( paid today the 25th )
Jan 23rd ( paid on feb1st)

Jan 19 update – $300 Payments coming through for active claimants! Based on reader comments here and on my social media it looks like the $300 weekly payments are coming through. Jackie wrote, “Got 600 deposited this morning a little before 6am. Was never a pending deposit. Just came thru outta nowhere. 1/19/21.” This was confirmed by subsequent comments. So looks like NJ DOL is making weekly payments for FPUC as well but was paying retroactively for the past 2 weeks it missed paying (due to program rollout delays) and so that’s why $600 was the maximum amount received for those who qualified for the 2 weeks.

Al posted the following on Jan 20th, Yes… there’s been much confusion on when the weeks would start or which date the payments would be retroactive. However, it’s basically like this. They’re paying (biweekly) from the week of January 2nd to the week of March 13th. That’s 11 weeks. This is why only a $600 payment/deposit was made to most claimants in NJ. So in respect to retroactive payments, the state was only behind 1 week. The week they tried to issue benefits (January 2, 2021) and the week that benefits started to be issued to claimants (January 9th). The next payable week will be January 16th 2021, payment should be received on Mondays, just like the CARES ACT Supplement Payments were issued. You will NOT receive both your Normal Unemployment Compensation Benefits and the new $300 on the same day. (Unless you’re one of those recipients that would normally receive your regular unemployment benefits on a Monday.) The only eleven payable weeks in 2021 are as follows (week ending): January 2nd, January 9th, January 16th, January 23rd, January 30th, February 6th, February 13th, February 20th, February 27th, March 6th, and week ending March 13th

Delays in payments were attributed to processing the new $300 FPUC while simultaneously running retroactive processing (as required by federal law) for the old $600 FPUC program. Under the new stimulus act, 460,000 claimants currently collecting PUA and PEUC, while 80,000 claimants are collecting Extended Benefits (EB). These groups of claimants are all eligible for an 11-week extension, and should be seeing no interruption in regular benefits. They should continue certifying for weekly benefits and will get the $300 FPUC payment and any eligible retroactive payments.

I realize that not everyone is seeing their payments yet (likely those who had exhausted benefits prior to week of 12/27/20 to 1/2/21) but at least there is some progress. The NJ DOL site is still saying they are “testing” and hard to get a hold of anyone at the NJ DOL, but it is at least good to hear that some people are receiving their payments. Please continue to leave comments at the end of this article with any updates or payment confirmations.


Jan 14 update from NJ DOL : NJDOL hopes to process the newly available federal $300 supplemental benefit over the weekend. An unforeseen complication delayed running the new Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program last week as planned. No one will miss any weeks of eligibility

Given that 1/18 is a public holiday and updates are happening over the weekend, I estimate that NJ DOL won’t get payments out before 1/19, given delays to date. Please leave a comment below the article if you receive your payment.

January 14th 2020 update

“Though there are still a lot of details needed from the USDOL to begin the work of implementing these new programs….we see from the sheer volume of new unemployment claims that this pandemic continues to affect significant numbers of workers, many who are unemployed for the first time in their lives.”

[Update Jan 13th] The NJ DOL has recently posted on their website (it’s a pop-up when you log on their website for the first time) that NJ residents currently claiming federal benefits (PUA or PEUC) will receive the new benefits without delay, and should continue to certify weekly (remaining weeks will roll-over into extension period). It is expected that these active claimants will see their $300 FPUC payment from mid-January (retroactive to December 27th, 2020).

Note – per several comments and responses, no one in NJ has yet seen the $300 payment! However a reader posted this “Just got off the phone with DOL they stated to me that payments will be processed into accounts at the end of today. Now I don’t know if that means into our accounts and will be there right away or then it has to process with ur bank.” So this likely means payments will start hitting accounts by the end of the week (factoring in processing time). Please leave a comment below the article if you receive your payment.

However anyone who has exhausted UI benefits on or after Dec. 26, 2020 will see a gap in payments while the NJ DOL program their UI systems to add the 11-week extension. These claimants should wait for notification from NJDOL before resuming weekly certification. NJDOL. No date provided for this, but expected towards the end of January.

I have noticed several comments on the mixed messages people are seeing from NJ DOL saying that they were the first to roll out the $300 payment, but yet people won’t get this payment for several weeks. The challenge is that to get the $300 FPUC payment (which is easy to implement since $600 FPUC was there before and only the amount has changed) you need to get the extended PUA or PEUC. So the issue is that the PUA and PEUC programs have had some new changes and criteria under the new law (e.g. additional documentation, you need to use PEUC before PUA), so this has meant claimants who exhausted PUA or PEUC benefits before Dec 27th, cannot file/certify for the weeks which extended coverage is available because NJ DOL is facing delays updating their systems for those programs. And as a result don’t get the $300 either because it cannot be paid because you need to have $1 of UI under PUA or PEUC to get the $300!

Final guidelines on these programs and final eligibility including additional document verification procedures to combat Fraud have been issued by the Department of Labor and then have to be implemented by the state UI agency in their systems and programs. So this could delay the actual date of payments.

UI claimants with existing or expired claim balances should be aware of the following:

  • PUA and PEUC, FPUC will be automatically added to the claimants’ benefits if they are eligible for the weeks outlined in the new legislation.
  • Claimants with weeks remaining in UI should continue to file weekly claims
  • Claimants who will have additional weeks in UI and PUA or PEUC due to state provisions (where applicable) should watch their state agency UI portal or website for updates that will allow additional weeks to be filed.
  • Claimants will receive retroactive payments for all weeks they are eligible.
  • Claimants currently receiving benefits through the Extended Benefits program must finish all weeks of EB before receiving additional weeks of PEUC.

I will post additional details as they are released in coming days. So stay tuned for updates.


Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) Program

NJ has made all final payments under the LWA program, which provided supplemental payments to eligible unemployment benefits claimants who were unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable or unavailable to work due to disruptions caused by COVID-19. Roughly 800,000 workers in New Jersey were eligible for up to $1,800 (or 6 weeks) in LWA benefits.

The NJ Labor Department (NJDOL) has confirmed that LWA payments have been successfully processed on October 21st and disbursed for payment. It could take 1 to 3 business days from this date to actually receive payments in your financial account or debit card due to processing times across financial intuitions,. As such, I expect payments should start appearing in accounts and cards from October 22nd to October 26th. This off course is for the first (main) batch of payments. People who verified late (after Sep 30th) or have had their account flagged (e.g for further processing or fraud) may see payments a few days or weeks later.

Latest Update – It appears that the majority of New Jerseyans are now seeing LWA payments in their bank accounts or debit cards. Check your pending transactions online as well, because that means your payment will be there shortly (within 1 business day generally). If you haven’t got your payment yet, don’t panic as they are still being processed in batches and could take till Monday or Tuesday to get to your account. Calling the NJ DOL/DUI is not going to help at this stage (impossible to get someone). See comments on this article for reader confirmations of the LWA payment across various banks.

From the article comments, many are still waiting on their LWA payment and I will continue to post new information and answer questions (along with the helpful community of readers) as if becomes available.

Why payments were late – Here is the latest quote from Labor Department spokesperson Angela Delli Santi on the delays, “Processing these [LWA] payments required new programming that had not previously been tested, and it is taking longer than anticipated for these payments to go through. People who miss their weekly certification window can certify during any of the make-up times. Early on 10/21, New Jersey “intentionally took down” the state’s unemployment certifying application to [fix issues] and consolidate resources into making the $300 payments.

How LWA payments get made by the NJ DOL: The LWA payment file is transmitted to Bank of America, NJ’s processing bank, then BOA disperses the payments to the direct deposit accounts and debit cards of claimants. This whole process can take 1 to 3 business days.

If your payment is not received by the end of October or is less than you expect you will need to contact someone at the NJ DOL/DUI to look into your claim and eligibility.

The delay in payments has been a source of frustration for many NJ claimants based on the comments on this post and this official update will be a relief to many. Delays were mainly due to the volume of erigibile claimants and the work on the system/application updates necessary for this program, which resulted in NJ being one of the last states to make this payment. More than 800,000 unemployed New Jersyans are eligible for LWA payments. Payments will be made as a lump sum and retroactive to August 1st for up to a maximum of 6 weeks (or $1800) of the approved FEMA funding.

Late LWA payments despite Gov. Murphy saying would be there early this week (Oct 19th)

You will need to complete a one time certification/attestation (via your UI portal) that your unemployment was due to COVID related disruptions to receive the LWA payment. However those who are receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or regular unemployment (UI) who previously attested to this do not have to certify and will automatically get LWA payments after October 19th, the same way they currently get unemployment benefits. See more details on the NJ LWA page.

The new LWA payment is in addition to Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) payments currently available to unemployed workers.

NJ LWA Payment Details

COVID 19 Enhanced Benefits under CARES Act in New Jersey

Under the CARES act, there are three types of federal unemployment assistance now available:

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA): expands eligibility for individuals who are typically ineligible for
Unemployment benefits, for example independent contractors, and self-employed and “gig” workers.
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC): provides an additional $600 per week, on top of regular benefits, to all recipients of Unemployment Insurance; retroactive to the week ending April 4, 2020. [Now Expired]
• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC): provides an additional 13 weeks of Unemployment benefits to all recipients.

Double-digit unemployment amid COVID-19 has also triggered 20 weeks of extended benefits the state is permitted by federal law to offer to those who have exhausted all other state and federal unemployment aid without returning to work permanently

Web and/or phone issues with accessing the NJ Unemployment system
NJ’s Unemployment Insurance system is experiencing record levels of demand due to coronavirus and all in-person services statewide are currently closed due to COVID-19. Some people cannot get through online or on the phone. NJ DUI understands your anxiety and frustration, and we apologize. They are working diligently to serve all our customers and ask for your patience. Please keep trying.

Existing Claimants: receiving Unemployment due to the coronavirus emergency do not have to do anything except continue to certify weekly to receive the $600/week. The additional $600/week compensation will be issued beginning April 14, for the week of March 30. It will be a separate payment from your regular unemployment benefit, and will be available to those receiving benefits until July 25, 2020. Claimants that are eligible for extended benefits will be notified on how to claim these benefits. The 13-week extension will be automatically available to you after your current balance is exhausted.

The NJ DOL recently tweeted the following top two reasons your weekly benefits may suddenly stop (claim not payable):

1) you no longer qualify under federal law

2) you answer incorrectly on our mandated questionnaire

33,000 people did the second last week alone!

Filing a Claim

New users can file a claim online (recommended) here by creating a new account. Existing claimants can file here. You can check the status of your claim here.

To receive your unemployment insurance benefits, you must certify for benefits each week which you wish to receive benefits. You can only certify for benefits after the week has passed. Unemployment Insurance weeks begin on a Sunday and end at midnight on Saturday.

You will certify for benefits according to the most recent schedule, based on the last four digits of your Social Security Number (SSN). In order for NJ DOL to process your weekly payment without delay, please follow the below guidelines when certifying for your benefits – to get your money – each week

woman working on a computer

If there is a problem with your claim that must be resolved before benefits can be paid, or if you have been denied benefits and are appealing the determination, you must still certify for and claim your benefits. You will receive “credit” for the weeks which you have claimed.

If it is determined that you are eligible or if you win your appeal, you will be paid these benefits at a later date. If you have not claimed benefits and you win your appeal, you will not be paid for these weeks.

To try and speak to a live representative around your claim you can try the following numbers (but expect long hold times)
• North Jersey: 201-601-4100
• Central Jersey: 732-761-2020
• Southern Jersey: 856-507-2340

In order to apply online for Unemployment Insurance benefits, you must have:

  • Worked only in New Jersey in the last 18 months, or
  • Worked in New Jersey and any other state(s) in the last 18 months, or
  • Worked for the federal government and in New Jersey in the last 18 months, or
  • Served in the military in the last 18 months and be physically present in New Jersey.

You can also apply by phone.

You will need the following information to apply:

  • Social Security Number.
  • Alien Registration Number (if you are not a US citizen).
  • Pension information (if you are receiving any pension or 401k).
  • Amount and duration of any separation pay you may be receiving.
  • Recall date (if you expect to be recalled to your job).
  • Union hiring hall information, including local number and address (if you get work through a union).
  • Military Form DD-214 (if you were in the military in the last 18 months).
  • Form SF-8 or SF-50 (if you were a federal employee).

NEW CERTIFIERS: If you received notification that your claim is payable, check the NJ DOL schedule page before you certify. Each week, the day and times to certify are staggered by Social Security number (SSN). The day and time assigned to your SSN may change, so check the schedule page each week.

If you miss your assigned time, there is a second window of time that is open to your SSN later on your assigned day.

Additionally, Friday and Saturday are open to certify for any Social Security number. If you miss these time slots, you may use the following week’s assigned time to certify for both the current and past week.

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2,225 thoughts on “New Jersey (NJ DOL) Unemployment Benefits and State Stimulus Programs – Updates And Latest News on Missing Pandemic Payments and Retroactive Claim Processing”

  1. o’ WTF… I have been waiting for the promised $600 lump sum back payment of 17 weeks since August 5th… that is what my official letter says… I even called NJUEP and they told me I was confirmed to get that back payment from 4/4 – 7/25… and had to wait 2-3 weeks… nothing… called on week 4… got thru again… was told that payments are delayed and could take 6-8 weeks… this is week 11 now… I certify on Thursday morning at 9-9:30… my regular weekly does not show up in my account until Monday mornings… 3 days wait every week… sometimes 4 if a holiday… so now I am confused if and when I will ever see this $1800 deposit… never got any emails to register for FEMA benefits yet… I check everyday…. this is just so unfair… I am a musician… it is because of this shutdown I am sinking deeper in my grave… how much longer do we have to wait for this… real tired of getting my hopes up high… God is watching… Melo D

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    • I too was approved for Benefits recieved weekly payment never got lump payment for back weeks. Lines are Always busy,they dont respond to emails. Maybe boycott or some smoke pressure making them aware of severity of our situation.

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      • Call, hang up, call, hang up. Eventually it will say please hold. Only took me 6 minutes to get through a few days ago. Don’t give up. Keep calling until you hear please hold. It’s annoying yes, but I promise if you do that continuously you will get someone on the phone.

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  2. JEFF,
    LMFAOOOOO . You got me dying with the “KAREN” comment!!!!! LOLLLLL Hilarious dude and so damn true. I just wanna know why she hasn’t said anything since? lol I wonder why. She probably didn’t expect all of us to get at her like we did thinking she was tough shit. JERSEYYYY!!!!

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  3. It’s a shame when we owe money we are charged late fees and overdrawn fees , we should be getting interest for them holding our money so long next week will be November already and nothing yet with the LWA payments !

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  4. You people all need to calm down,every single one of you in this goddamn thread. First off if you did your unemployment in the beginning those are the people that have to fill out a simple goddamn piece of paper that is sent to you in your email. You check a little box, a monkey can do it, that’s number one. And number two, if you don’t get it it’s because you did your unemployment later and the system was already updated to answer if you were out due to Corvid. Yeah they might be backed up and backdated but I got all my money even though it took me four months to get it. I got all my 600 an I got all my backpay. I didn’t have to speak to a goddamn person because I answered all the questions right and I know how to read. Lastly it says the week of the 19th I’m not really sure what idiot on here thinks that we’re getting paid the same way we got the federal money it’s coming from FEMA that’s not federal. Which is why we had to put a whole new program in place to get pay the actual money. So since it doesn’t say an exact date and says once again let me say this one more time for the idiots in the back the week of the 19th. I’m going to assume that the day you get your actual unemployment benefits is the day you probably get the 1800 retro pay if you qualify, which means you have to make more than $100 a week in actual unemployment or did you guys not read that part either. ‍And lastly no you do not qualify for the 600 and pandemic money backpay if your unemployment happened prior to Covid. It has to be because of Covid that you were laid off which means in order to be laid off you have to have already been working. Most of the things that you guys are yelling about in here you don’t even need to speak to them things are done automatically like when your unemployment runs out you don’t have to speak to a person , just keep claiming your unemployment like normal and it will roll over and it will restart your unemployment whether it’s the 13 week extension or the 26 pandemic insurance extension. There’s a chance you will not also get all 1800 if you didn’t make at least 100 every single week for those six weeks. You will also not get the 1800 if your unemployment is not due to Covid. You also qualify for unemployment if you did not work my girlfriend hasn’t worked for three years they went back all the way to her beginning of her work history but she did not get the 1800 and she will not get the 600 back Pay because it is not due to Covid that she is out, she only got it because they extended the unemployment rules for those types of people or people that are self-employed. So when you apply for normal unemployment you’re going to get denied you have to send an email and they will fix it just like they did hers. 33,000 people messed up their unemployment this week do you know why because they don’t know how to read and follow simple directions that we learned in kindergarten some of you have made this process worse because you do not pay attention. ‍♀️‍♀️ Stop listening to all the negative Karen’s in this thread if you qualify for money you will get it if you do not qualify you will not get it it’s a simple as that. And considering that New Jersey has the highest unemployment rate right now of course they are backed up.

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    • How nice for u that it only took them 4 months to get all ur money. However, theres people who have been waiting a lot longer than that and have yet to get anything. Of course other are backes up.. Lol. No one should have to wait 7 months to hear excuse after excuse. Don’t say check email. NO SHIT. THEY HAVE CHECKED! also they have called and been told 2 weeks..then NOTHING. So how bout u shut the #uck up and puul ur head out of ur ass cuz what u went thru obviously is NOT THE SAME! and people habe no more trust in gov Murphy or unemployment because they have paid in to unemployment for 25 yrs and the 1 time they NEED it they can’t get answers. So its natural they come here to ask others who have been thru it. U obviousoy haven’t. So go rub ur 4 months of back payments all over ur chest and feel superior about it..when in reality u look like nothing more than a POS

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      • I wish I could ‘like’ all of our comments below the ignorant trolls uninformed and uneducated mess. When I saw it this morning (after seeing that the LWA had not been deposited) I was livid. I’m actually surprised I didn’t write more than I did in my initial reply. But after being offline most of the day I come back to read these, and granted this situation is unacceptable, and the silence from our government – who, if they forget please be reminded, are SUPPOSED TO WORK FOR US, the residents of NJ – is completely unacceptable and will not be forgotten come next reelection by many, many people. But coming back (it’s going to get corny to bear with me) and reading these gave me a feeling of our little thread community here banding together against a common enemy. That’s not going to get out money in our accounts any faster, but damn it if I don’t feel a little proud to count myself as one in your group! I didn’t expect the emotional response I had reading through the replies. Honestly I was expecting a snarky response from the origional poster (I don’t know why, almost every sentence had a factual error. Oh, and REALLY? FEMA isn’t Federal? It’s the fucking first work in the name of the department!!

        But again, from my little corner of NJ, weather you know it or not, left a comment today, or in the days before – thanks for the boost of pride today, it’s something I’ve been missing for a long time and is a definite reminder that people can still make a positive impact in your life.

        Stay strong everyone, and again – thank you.

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        • yasssss James (clapping) said it well!!!! I couldn’t believe I read that nonsense from her ass. LMAO!!! All she did was make herself look stupid is hell… BTW did ya catch the part where she wrote “we built the new system black black black”? I know its not the right wording but its around that sort. So pick one shorty, are you a worker there or are you just A angry person that doesn’t have shit to do? lol pick a struggle girl.

        • Yeah, WTH was that…new system was built…every state apparently had to do the same thing and they all managed to get their money out on time., And she can’t use the excuse that FEMA had other questions and sent back the application, which did happen, but we were assured by the governor that it wouldn’t affect the timeline in any way.
          LMFAO, Oh lord, imagine telling someone like her to pick a struggle? She probably has a list and picks them out of a hat every damn that’s why we didn’t hear her again, she had to get ready to troll the SNAP message boards tomorrow and try to shame the people there looking for food assistance. It’ll somehow be their fault.

    • FEMA – Federal – FEDERAL Relief Management Agency

      Before you start in on those of us who are frustrated, not knowing day to day how we’ll make it to the next, know what the f*ck you’re talking about.

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      • As I mentioned, this forum is littered with knuckleheaded state workers. I guess she failed to mention that NJ is last in the distribution of EMA-LWA funds, yet it is our fault. You expect more from them since we pay the highest in taxes. People finally see what is wrong with NJ when they have these type of people with this mentality. A far cry from the NYSDOL. They are top notch. They managed to implement new processes and procedures like “Docusign” to help with NYS residents who were eligible for retroactive back pay. I wish I lived there. NJ still operating at the bottom of the dog sh*t pile. The sad part – Pandemic Round II gearing up to be worse than Spring and I see no improvements, processes, procedures and better communication from NJDOL. NYSDOL workers respond to NYS residents directly on Twitter about issues and problems they have.

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    • u sound so dumb lol!!! why are you mad?!!! If you don’t like what u read then keep it pushin!!! FEMA is federal dummy lmao oh yea and it comes to not receiving backpay they do want u TO CALL THEM! Know your stuff before coming on here crazy to everyone when u clearly look like a damn fool! I said what I said

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    • Must be nice. I’d be calm like you too if I had four months of backpay in my bank account right now to Support my family. (Even tho I’m owed more than that)
      I guess according to you it’s all our fault or something we did wrong or do not understand(bc apparently we are all stupid and you’re the only smart one). That’s why we have no money for months and months after paying into the system for years.
      Keep your shit to yourself, no one on here needs added stress from a self righteous, condescending person who doesn’t even know what they’re talking about. Most of the shit you wrote is completely wrong, everyone’s case is different. You put everyone in the same box and all that shit you wrote depends on an individual’s situation.
      Excuse you but you deserve this, next time do the courteous thing and how about thinking of others instead of just yourself. Because nothing you said helped ANYONE.
      So keep smiling and go do your shopping with your money, you obviously don’t understand Real struggle and individuals’ rights in terms of unemployment and federal Laws and regulations. You don’t know shit so keep it to yourself.
      You could’ve posted your status in a much more relevant manner to help people on here, that’s the point, that you obviously missed.

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      • Exactly. That person took time out of their day to actually spew incorrect information! “FEMA isnt federal like 600 was..IDIOT. Fema IS FEDERAL. its literally the 1st word of the acronym. But of course this person wants to take time put of their day to post long rambling nonsense because they have nothing else to do. Saying no one can get the 600 unless it unemployment was due to covid..WRONG. some people just love to talk..even when they sound like a complete moron. For those who come here for help..I hope u all get it. For those who come here to try to make themself sound important..u sound like a dumb toddler. Girlfriend hasnt worked in 3yrs but suddenly NOW she NEEDS unemployment? Hmmm..seems like fraud. Dumbass

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        • Just another internet trolling Karen Karen roflmfao, I just hope that everyone who is entitled to the 1800 gets it sooner rather than later this week.

    • Since you’re so damn smart and know every damn thing how do you not know that the $1,800 from FEMA is not FEDERALLY funded emergency money? Don’t snap off on everybody in here because we want to talk among ourselves about what’s going on, we are sharing our experiences with each other because we feel as though we are being left in the dark. But I’d like to know this? Why are you here reading this article and any of our comments since you know everything? I’m very happy that you had smooth sailing throughout your entire process let me make it very clear that you are one of the very few, and I wouldn’t be making accusations against people’s reading comprehension skills either its rude & very revealing as to the content of your character…but I haven’t had any problems filing my claim or certifying for my benefits, I am here because I am waiting a very long time to get my back pay & since the NJDOL does not address my area of concern directly or indirectly I am here consulting with others who share my issue to see what they are experiencing and what they are being told. This thread is a comfort and a place for us to express ourselves and if you haven’t noticed none of us are insulting anyone here until you came along and decided open your mouth.

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    • FEMA is FEDERAL. The 600 was for EVERYONE on unemployment. At least try to pretend u know what u r talking about. U obviously haven’t a clue! Pretty sure urngirlfriend collecting unemployment suddenly after 3 yrs of not working is illegal. Why now does she suddenly need money? She was fine for 3 YEARS without a job. Yet as soon as pandemic hits..she needs to collect money? To me it seems like her getting money is like stealing from those who actually NEED it and can’t get it. Thief

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    • I love the other post MIA wrote saying whats it matter how long u wait as long as u get the money? R u kidding me? Whats it matter if people lose their ENTIRE SAVINGS because they dont have the unemployment INSURANCE theyve paid into for decades?? What dooes it matter if they lose phones, cars, HOMES..can’t feed kids. Spoken like someone who resides in parents basement. Just because YOU had no problem getting YOUR money that must mean everyone else has no problem getting theirs? Some people need to just keep the going hoke they call a mouth SHUT

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    • I am going to say this you need to learn to talk to ppl with compassion !!! YOU DONT KNOW WHAT PPL R GOING THROUGH !!!! IT COULD YOU !!!!

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    • I am going to say this you need to learn to talk to ppl with compassion !!! YOU DONT KNOW WHAT PPL R GOING THROUGH !!!! IT COULD YOU !!!!

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    • People are confused they have changed the estimated day 3 times first it was mid-sept then the beginning of Oct then mid to late Oct so you need to slow down on how you talk to people they don’t wanna hear you nagging like you know it all and they We dont like the disrespectful comment you made ! As for me you can kiss where the sun don’t shine ! Believe me there’s plenty more I wanna say to you but F U for now

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    • Im a Union Sheet Metal Worker who has been out of work since January. I know this is before the whole COVID shit started, but I have not been able to go back to work due to COVID because lack of work and downsizing on jobsites. I did certify and check the box stating I lost hours due to COVID. In my eyes I feel that I’m entitled to lump sum payment. What do you think?

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      • Yes. You should be eligible for LWA as long as you meet other criteria (getting $100 through regular UI or other enhanced benefit programs).

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        • Hey andy whats up with thE NJDOL emails they sending out requesting information they ask for your W2 and 2019 taxes even tho im qualified for the PUA benefits because i been out of work since march but why is it i fill out the form i uplaod my 2019 taxes and W2 and its telling me it take 4 weeks to determined my PUA of the 1800.00 pay when i should be getting it automatically so now i got to wait additional 4 weeks so im sure im not the only one received that E-adjustion Email but whats up with this like even tho i got an email to attested that i had to click on when i went into my DOL account can you explain to me so am i getting automatically or i really got to wait another 4 weeks like this is crazy

        • Maybe you can help me with this. So my 13 week extension has been exhausted. Today I got a letter from NJDOL saying that I’m ineligible for extended benefits. The reason they state is I did not earn 40 times my weekly benefit rate on my claim. This seems fishy to me. I made well over that. I dont have to certify for benefits til Wednesday morning, Let’s see what happens. Now this has got me nervous because just like everyone else I have mouths to feed and bills to pay. Really hope that there is an error somewhere. It says I can appeal, but who knows how long that will take.

        • I’m really nervous here because they are saying I do not qualify for the 20 week extension. What do I do now? Do I have any kind of alternatives? How can they deny anyone in this fucked up time. Getting ready to just say fuck it and take a plunge off the Driscoll Bridge. I’m asking anyone for some advice before I go and do something stupid.

        • I’m so sorry. I’m in the same boat. Please do not hurt yourself. I don’t have any advice except that I can say it is not worth killing yourself and I’m sure you will hurt others by taking such action.

        • Thanks Anne. This is just driving me crazy. Im a Union Sheet Metal Worker and work is scarce now. So I dont see going back to work anytime soon. For them to deny not just me but everyone else going thru this, the state of NJ should be ashamed of themselves. They are really ruining peoples lives. Everyday I fight about where the next dollar is coming from, do we have enough food or money to get food. Im just tired of the uncertainty.

        • I completely hear you and know that debate over buying food vs not.

          I do get it so I don’t want to sound flip or like I don’t get the extreme anxiety and stress. It’s real. Trying to focus us the future while staying present. Prayer is all we have at this point and it has helped. I will be praying for you and everyone here.

      • Absolutely you are completely entitled to every dime because you would have been back to work by now I’m sure of it. Don’t listen to this corny b**** none of us are

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    • I pretty much NEVER comment or post on the internet, never even go on FB or any of that stuff, and stuff like this comment is the reaspn why. I’m not a troll and I’m not looking for a fight, just wanna help set the record straight.

      The FEMA money(LWA-$300) is 100% Federal money as it was issued through executive order by the president. The president is in charge of the federal government and absolutely CANNOT tell the states how to spend money. That’s basic 8th grade civics and if you vote or reside in the USA you should understand that. The reason NJ is so far behind other states is because A) Murphy drug his feet for a moment when the applications were first sent out to “make sure we were doing our due diligence”. Some people feel/felt that the executive order was either illegal, unconstitutional or both. Doesn’t matter for the sake of this conversation, except that NJ hesitated so as to not make any promises it couldn’t keep.
      That said IF you were collecting UI between the weeks of August 1st and September 15th (6 weeks total) you are eligible to receive $300 for each of those 6 weeks provided you:
      A) Certified that the reason for your unemployment was due to Covid-19. People who were collecting PRIOR to April 1st were not automatically eligible. In most of those cases the DOL sent an email with a link to certify that FOR THOSE 6 WEEKS you were unemployed due to COVID.
      B) During those 6 weeks you must have claimed and received a minimum of $100 in UI benefits. If you received LESS than $100 for UI you are not eligible for that week. The way Mia phrased it makes it sound like you had to EARN $100 in income and that is not the case.
      Hopefully that clears up the criteria for receiving the money.

      As to when to expect the payment, the $600 of federal money is not a good example of when to expect it because that money was released the FOLLOWING Monday for the week claimed. So if you received your regular state funded benefit on Tuesday the 9th of the June, that weeks federal money would have been received on Monday the 15th. As it is now 2:15 AM on Tuesday I would imagine some people have already started to receive the LWA money. UI always takes 2 days to post to your bank account. Certify on Sunday, it’s posted Tuesday morning. Certify on Tuesday, it’s posted Thursday morning. I would imagine however that since it’s a new system and the first time it’s been done, the DOL probably doesn’t even know for sure. That’s why they said the WEEK of the 19th. They’ve already started processing the payments, but when anyone will see them is anyone’s guess. My money would be on Tuesday for most.
      And just for clarifications sake, the original $600/week of federal money was NOT tied to whether or not your unemployment was due to COVID. Every single precious soul in the country got that money as long as they were already eligible to receive whatever UI benefits their state allowed them. Covid was the catalyst, but unlike the LWA money, was not a requirement. Anyone’s girlfriend who did not receive that money didn’t due so because they weren’t eligible for the state benefit at the time. Not because it wasn’t due to covid.

      And lastly, and this is more of a personal opinion than any kind of objective statement or fact. It would seem to me that applying ones life experiences or those of a friend or family members haphazardly to the circumstances of others, especially perfect strangers, is a short sighted, clumsy, and possibly dangerous practice. Especially if you struggle with elaborating on your thoughts, misspeak or worse yet simply lie or give untrue facts, whether out of ignorance or malice. Now I’ll be the first to admit that it is your right and often times duty to express your opinion, but in those cases stick to your opinion, let it be KNOWN that it is simply your opinion, don’t try to force others to ACCEPT your opinion, and most importantly don’t CONFLATE your opinion as fact. Not because you might hurt someone’s feelings, but because someone who might be more impressionable or less informed might take those opinions/falsities as facts and either make poor decisions or assume they aren’t entitled to something which they most certainly are. I know I couldn’t sleep if I thought I might have cost someone a chance to benefit from some much needed and very accessible extra funds. Hopefully we can all agree on that. I’ll wrap it up because I started rambling 3 paragraphs ago but lastly good luck, be safe, I hope you all get every dime you’re entitled to and god bless.

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    • Seems like you should take your own advice. Chilllll

      Also did you just self certify that your girlfriend has a fraudulent claim?
      Hasn’t worked in 3 years but is collecting ? If she has not worked she is neither a gig worker or self employed . I hope you know their going to shut hers off soon. And ask you to provide documentation to prove her gig worker or self employment somehow .
      They started already. Some self employed such as myself are entitled to MORE money than the basic 232$ a week.
      They asked me to submit documents proving I own a business if not they’d kick me off
      And second they wanted to see if I could get a higher weekly amount .

      But I’m sure their main reason for doing this was to weed out people like your girlfriend .
      If true. She will owe every dollar she took .
      GOOD LUCK.
      Hard times as it is … never mind paying back ten grand or more on top of it while being jobless.

      I really just hate when I see it read about people abusing the system . This is why everyone in the state cant even get in the phone. Able bodied people , who just font feel like working complaining about their unemoloyment. I damn near am bankrupt and before that I was considered a big earner . Someone people looked up to .

      My family is the loser in this scenario.
      My fiance doesn’t work . I pay the Bill’s but I never told her to go sign up for unemployment if she has worked in three years even before the pandemic !!!!! C’mon no excuse .
      I’m going by what you said yourself above. She dont work. And is collecting. Now your on here talking down to others . WELL OTHERS PAYMENTS ARE BEHIND DUE TO having to go through the list and kick people off like her! Ahe got through at first, Before they needed any documentation. Mark my words their catching up . And she will owe every last dollar. And if your doing the same . I give it a week or two weeks tops before they shut your account out and make you dial their non working phone numbers daily to prove with receipts. Paperwork etc. Your a business owner .

      This is what delayed the LWA the widespread fraud!
      Please if your commiting the fraud. Dont be lecturing others about simplicity . And reading and writing .

      These people through no fault of their own . Have never been on unemoloyment. They never needed to be. they do not understand how any of this works , its alien to them .
      They are frustrated with their government . They’ve paid into it for years they ask questions. And we always get an idiot like you talking down to them. Obviously you yourself are checking this page too looking for answers . So why dont you just shut the hell up unless your going to help another. Human being struggling . Were sorry bit everyone on here is so smart like you. Give me a break.

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    • Really? I did my unemployment right and the state screwed up my account. They still owe me back pay from april and the 600 that goes with it, I guess they just kept that for themselves. Been waiting for an answer for months on end. What they’ve done to people is a crime!

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    • Well good for you that you got all your money and it sure sounds like you have put many people in the “cannot follow directions” group. Who do you think you are? Don’t you dare tell people to just calm down. I answered all questions correctly and did start to claim my benefits but unemployment made a mistake and I’ve received nothing since May so not everyone is so lucky as you. Instead of criticizing everyone because you think we are stupid and you are The Great One, try keeping your mouth shut.

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    • Mia-What an insensitive post. Also incredibly self righteous. For the record, I actually know how to read… I happen to have an MBA & a Masters in Education, I am less than a year away from a PHD as well. call me nuts, but I have a feeling I probably can read a lot better than you . And I am 1000% certain that I checked the right box in the beginning. I have never received an email or a text from the state of New Jersey, FEMA etc. i’ve never had a problem receiving my regular unemployment payments. I have a right to be upset that I did not receive the $1800 as I can probably guarantee I have PNTU unemployment I never used it for most of my adult life. Maybe I can even assume that I have paid quite a lot more than you have and yet you’ve gotten your payment and I have not so therefore I have the right to be upset!!!!

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  5. Everyone,

    Please post if you have received your FEMA LWA $1,800 this week. NJDOL claiming on their Twitter account that they have been trying to contact people via email or telephone about the LWA payment and that they are having trouble. I think it is a crock of sh*t; I think they are just making up more excuses for their incompetence. We can’t even reach them, yet, they are complaining they can’t reach us. How ironic. However, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. We will see. I’m not expecting much.

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      • Fustrated NJ…thats the email you have to fill out a form to actually get your money so what is the hype thinking you wake up and its in your account NO the form you have to fill out before you received the funds this is ridiculous we waited long enough now how long will this take now

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        • If you qualify for the money you will get it after you fill out your unemployment for this week it does not say on the 19th that we’re all getting our money nowhere does it say on the 19th it says the week of you people really need to read and read everything on the unemployment site and Google search things a little better. The week of the 19th stop listening to all the Karen’s and do your own research. It’s a little box that just lets them know that you’re out due to Covid people that did Covid like myself in the beginning of March the systems were not updated to ask the Covid questions after March and April they were updated so you will not get that email. And no offense yeah you might’ve had a wait but as long as you get the money it doesn’t matter this money is not guaranteed for anybody this money has not owe to anybody this money was put in a place by the president because the 600 ran out because Congress is a bunch of jokers and so you should be grateful.

        • please just go away nobody needs your negativity and you are wasting not just your own time but everybody elses as well. Since you can’t be part of a solution and only want to talk down your nose to everybody else as if you are Superior I kindly ask that you just go kick rocks….. please because you are seriously not wanted here

        • They did not say that. All they said was they’re trying to contact ppl to who might be eligible. Nothing about they’re having trouble.

        • Rachel: The NJDOL mentioned they were trying to reach out to people. Several NJ Residents mentioned in the Twitter feed comments that they did receive an email and some stated they received no email or communication at all. Kind of similar to some folks here in this forum who get these alleged communications and some do not. As I stated, people should report in this forum whether they received the $1800 this week as promised. Its kinda overdue. Let’s see if the NJDOL finally turning the corner or still fumbling the football with their heads up their as*. I’m thinking the latter. But hey, lets see how it goes.

        • I think your referring to the email some recieved that are on Regular Unemployment .

          NOT , the PUA pandemic unemployment assistance program .

          PUA claimants every week testify or self certify their reason for being out of work is because of covid related reasons .

          The latter ,

          REGULAR UI.
          if you never self certified that the pandemic is effecting you .
          The dept. of labor sent out emails and texts to those. With basic instructions on how to use their website . And click a check box . “Self certifying” that the pandemic has effected you returning to work . This was key because if the wording of the presidents executive order .
          You needed to basically swear the pandemic has effected you to recieve LOST WAGE ASSISTANCE. Or LWA. Aka the 300$ payments from August 1st to sept. 5 th that will be backdated d paid out in one lump sum now this week .

          So yes your fully correct. Some recieved emails . Others recieved texts . If your on PUA . You didnt need to do anything. And you wouldnt have recieved any email or text .
          I get why your nervous ..
          Its understandable.

          I hopefully clarified this for you and anyone else with this question .

          Shortest answer . If you needed to self certify. You would’ve recieved instructions via text message or email .
          Remember. DOL has your info from when you signed up .

          Check your spam folders too .
          If you didnt recieve. than no worries . More than likely you self certified already when filing your claim. Or certify weekly .
          And those emails amd texts didnt apply to your situation .

          That was them telling people to check their emails etc for instructions . It was an automated email for those who didn’t self certify the pandemic is why their on unemoloyment and would not be eligible for this weeks payment until they checked a box on NJ unemployment website . Under “check claim status” they had a small box you just needed to click .

          I am not 100 positive but I do believe the box was removed now as of Friday at 5pm .
          So I guess that is bull and void at this point in time anyways.

    • Nj is scamming all of us. I am still owed weekly payments plus 600 from back in april. Still waiting. Im sure the Gov. Is keeping the money for the huge holes in budget from mismanagement. NJ is a joke

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      • Yea…interesting. I’m not one for conspiracy theories. However, something just stinks about all of this. Every other state has figured this out except NJ. The whole theory about Murphy holding on to funds for interest.?? That’s just political career suicide. You can’t hide that or try to explain that away with political drivel speak if indeed he is doing that. Pure madness. Republicans will pound him on that and this unemployment fiasco next year. He is f**ed. I know the NJDOL likes to publish those cute slick bar and pie charts about all this unemployment funds they are distributing yet their processes are FUBAR…uh huh. Republicans will most likely audit that. I hope they are not fibbing on those numbers.

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    • ive gotten a email from Unemployment claim letting me know it was more additional information that was needed for me to receive the extra 300$ benefit amount . they said it would take up to 4 weeks to know if im approved or not thats the only messed up part about everything we still have to wait during this horrible time and things arent getting better were im from in south jersey

      Reply
    • Woke up to NOTHING from the fema money. Everyine is saying it will be the same way the 600 went in. Id get 600 Monday morning by 615. Its after 7. So not getting anything today. Of course not. Anyone get it?

      Reply
      • Same thing here, nothing, it’s going to be after you claim this week when you get your normal weekly claim, absolutely bullshit if ask me,

        Reply
        • Yea its bullshit. So then who gets money today? Those who claimed on Saturday? Its funny cuz gov Murphy said unemployment workers dont have anything to do with this money. Thats why an entire new system was needed and took forever to create. So if unemployment doesnt touch it..why not just deposit money on 1 day. New system was created..why not create it to deposit it on 1st day available?

        • They better not. I was told it wasn’t going to be. Last week I had spoke to someone about another issue and I asked this question she told me no. So who knows. But it better not b.

        • If this is being handled like the CARES payments were, I’d get an email letting me know it was sent to my bank. It’s already almost 10 nobody is getting any money today.

        • Hey guys if yall all check the pua tracker it haven’t even been release yet for anyone to get the funds so the money for the 1800 is still on hold just check they haven’t release it still says payment pending and couple other states says the same for there’s even tho it shows the 6 weeks pay they haven’t release shit

        • That doesn’t make sense to me because some people may have gone back to work already and they’re not claiming for benefits anymore but they’re owed those six weeks or at least some of those six weeks. we’re now at the end of October

      • Nothing here either. Just my normal weekly rate. So now I’m thinking it will either be as Jeff said and available next week or maybe because these are new systems it might hit our accounts sometime during the week. Just have to wait and see.

        Reply
    • I also didn’t get it today, but I think we’ll get it tomorrow. I get my reg UI pay on Tuesdays and used to get $600 on Mondays, but first retro $600 pay I got was on Tuesday.

      Reply
    • well as of October 19th witch is today it’s been confirmed for process.and that will take 1to2 days to process like your regular unemployment . so i called for my unemployment Sunday so it should be on there with my regular unemployment.. THAT’S MY OPINION

      Reply
      • Wait….which is it? Has it been confirmed, or is it your opinion? I know I got the email CONFIRMING my regular unemployment has been sent to the bank, because I claim on Sunday morning. I’ve gotten nothing that mentions anything in regards to the LWA payments.

        Reply
    • Well, here we are, Monday October 19 and I don’t know why the rational, pessimist in me didn’t take over when I saw the post from the person claiming to have a relative who works for the DOL in Newark and they were told by said relative that the LWA payments will me handled in the same manner as the CARES Act relief payments were – meaning (if you have direct deposit) your funds will be available one day before your regular or PUA payment goes in. Well, my great big deposit of (after taxes) $208 goes in on Tuesday if that poster was right, the LWA payment would have been there today. The $600 payment was always in Monday at 8:04 am. I’d get an email and text from my NJDOL as well as my bank letting me know that I had received a direct deposit. Well it’s now 9:20 am….no email, no text. Well, I got the email saying that my regular PUA deposit has been sent to the bank (for availability tomorrow). So fed up with this.

      Reply
    • Hi I was just wondering, if I was pit of work the weeks of aug1to Sept 5 do I still get the 300 lwa assistance. I was out of work during that time because of covid but have now got a job. I hope I can because I’m so backed up with Bills

      Reply
    • Well everyone, tomorrow is Tuesday, and outta Gov Murphy’s mouth was said “early in the week” that the payments would be made. Let’s all hope we wake up to the money in the bank..

      Reply
      • Once again nothing, btw andy you should fix the map of the states saying new Jersey is paying now, apparently their not and don’t seem to give a fother muck about anyone. Just looking at that gives a false sense of hope and stresses you out more

        Reply
        • Nope cause they are on some bs, probably be some excuse and come next month, I’m over it, nj can watch the crime rate go up when we the people have to do what means necessary for finances,we have to do what have to feed our families. While the rich live in their lavish neighborhoods and lifestyle.

        • Nope, just my regular $208.00. No LWA yet. FUCK this goddamn state. My phone is about to be shut off.

  6. Recent tweet from NJ DOL (@NJLaborDept)

    NJDOL is trying to reach workers who may be eligible for FEMA Lost Wages $300 payments. Please follow the instructions if you received a text message or email & your unemployment was COVID-related.

    Reply
  7. Hi! I was wondering if anyone knew how to claim retroactive payments (the regular unemployment plus the $600 a week). I applied and started receiving $231 a week on july 11th, but was originally laid off due to corona issues in march. Am I still eligible to receive this money and the extend benefits from march-july or is it too late? Thank you!! I am fairly young and not quite sure how a lot of this works, just trying to get by hahah

    Reply
  8. I was originally let go July 2020 due to a re-org. However, I continue to be unemployed due to COVID. I received the email. Do I qualify? I cannot get through for 3 days now to any phone numbers listed. TIA

    Reply
    • I have had appx. 150.00 income during some weeks since 8/1. Not every week. Every time I certify each week, I get a message pop up that says I do not qualify for benefits at this time but that I can wait to see if I receive a review hearing (or something like that). That has not happened. It’s like they are not 100% saying I am not getting this money but at the same time no update if I should just stop certifying. It actually says that if I do qualify then I will receive back pay. Will I receive the $300 weekly benefit since I have not been told to stop certifying and since I’m not mklaing full income? Of course, the message says I can call my reemployment center but I absolutely cannot get through to anyone.

      Reply
        • It’s Brit why I’m not completing the certification form online says week, I am. But it’s giving me a message that I don’t qualify right now but that it sounds like it will be reviewed. I have to them fill out an extensive form I get emailed but no money and no notice that I should stop trying to get benefits. No final word.

  9. ANDY, hey I have a question, when you said

    However those who are receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or regular unemployment (UI) who previously attested to this do not have to certify and will automatically get LWA payments after October 19th, the same way they currently get unemployment benefits.

    Does that mean we get the payment the day we usually get our regular money? I certify today (Thursday) and get my money on Saturday. So does that mean I would have to wait til next Thursday to certify? Omg I hope not!

    Reply
  10. Guys I need help answer this question please, I was supposed to start the work in March 15, but due to Covid-19 I couldn’t not start the work and also don’t have any work history. I just came to know that i can apply for Unemployment and i did, claim got accepted as well, week of 09/27. Would I be eligible to claim back dated benefits and plus $600 in PUA benefits? Thanks

    Reply
    • No you don’t have work history? Let me just make sure I understand this correctly you’ve never worked before?

      Reply
  11. OK, I filed with NJDOL on July 12. I was a contract worker, so I was expecting a long wait. I received a letter, via snail mail (!) on August 31 saying that I was denied benefits because I didn’t have income. I sent invoices, my employment agreement, and my company phone # so they could verify that I was a contract worker. I haven’t heard anything since. I have called 732-761-2021 several times, but they have no information. Once they told me that I was still listed as “denied”, but I dismissed that rep as inexperienced and not credible. Is there anything anyone can suggest to get my claim processed? I know it’s a PUA claim and could take time, but 14 weeks and nothing seems excessive. What do you think?

    Reply
    • Can your employer send a W2 or 1099 statement. That should do the trick. Then again, NJDOL is so screwed up, there are no guarantees this will work. Sad part is that it doesn’t look like NJDOL are getting any better and pandemic is cranking up for round 2 of devastation. Starting to despise this state.

      Reply
    • Sometimes it can take months for my friend it took 5 months exactly for her claim to be approved but she claimed every week and repeatedly sent paperwork proving her employment history. She just got approved 2 weeks ago. Got a back pay of around $13,000 give or take. Trust me just keep sending it in like I advised her to do and keep claiming weekly!

      Reply
  12. someone please help! The LWA $300 that is being released in nj October 19. But everything I read says that its between august 1 to sept 5. I filed my claim after the 5th so am I eligible for this LWA money or not??

    Reply
    • The payment is from October 19th. But the period eligible for payments is Aug 1 to Sep 5th. So if you met criteria for the payment in that period you will get paid paid after Oct 19th

      Reply
    • My friend is in the same boat. She was laid-off after this time period and only recently began collecting NJ state unemployment benefits beginning middle of September. So she is likely not eligible for this LWA program that FEMA is funding. Maybe there’s a workaround? I don’t expect to reach anyone at the NJ Department of Labor for a clarification.

      Reply
      • Try 732-761-2021. I can usually get through with less than 15-20 dials. They can answer questions like this one. Good luck!

        Reply
    • I do believe the week of the 19th which is a monday alot of people would see it in there accounts usually the 600 would come a monday or Tuesday so we should definitely see it monday early morning they know the American people need it so they would not make us wait any longer especially when its a differ system even if you file your regular claim before the19th you still should see it the 19th and the ones who claim on Monday still should see it first hand in the morning or that Tuesday but either way we should get it before our regular claims

      Reply
      • Anybody out there know if I will receive the $300 if they have “reviewing” my unemployment since August 1? I guess because during some weeks I have made a very small amount of income but not enough at all to live on. Maybe to pay one bill. I’ve filled out form after form that they’ve emailed me after saying they have to review my unemployment since I’m claiming this small amount of money. Can’t reach a live person so posting here.

        Reply
    • Ladonis,

      What specific email address should we look for?
      Is it this: “[email protected]” or something else? What is the Subject Line of this email?

      What does this email specifically tell you? Is it about FEMA-LWA or Retroactive Back Pay? Some kind of acknowledgement or confirmation?

      Reply
        • Hey what are the odds of any one getting the 1800 earlier then the week of October 19th like the people who are already on unemployment insurance under pua for gig self employed workers who are already in their system out of work due to covid reasons I’m eligible and I haven’t gotten an email yet like everyone else is and I did the check claim status box thing, I was just wondering about it, I know that it is probably slim to none for the deposit to come early but worth the shot asking lol. Hell I know that everyone is depending on this for financial reasons of their own like me. I’m upset and ticked off on how long nj took on giving us any kind of updates since they filed for fema money. Such a long week ahead of us waiting ugh

    • i filled this email out.how do i know if it went thru.didnt get confirmation by email and it never said while i was doing it that it wnt thru.thanks

      Reply
      • mine did the same thing it allowed me to check the box but I received no email and when I went in it again it said to check the box…which I already did

        Reply
        • I understand the seriousness of this and the panic/anxiety you feel about possibly not receiving these funds. We are all in the same boat with you. If you are currently receiving PUA ($231), you should be ok. It will automatically deposit into your account. Scroll to the top of this page at the beginning. The moderator (I think Andy) posted information about all this.

        • There is no need if you put a Covid reason why you are unemployed then the funds will be deposited automatically

        • Hey Brittany mine did the same thing i didnt received no email but i check the box then i saw it again when i log back in but my uncle is the director for nwk dol office and i spoke with him he said if you unemployed received payments before September 5th you meet the guidelines to received the lump sum but after the 5th yea ya ineligible but the onea for the PUA automatically gets its as long they were unemployment and received payments from before so they really dont have to check no box really but the lump sum we get get is how you file so like me i file on a monday i get it a Wednesday but he said its how the 600 payments use to come so i use to get that on a Tuesday..so if some people file on a sunday and get there payments a Tuesday then the lump sum come on a monday its always a day before you get your original payments so thats how u know when the 1800 lump sum hit your account

        • So how about me I claim on a Thursday, my regular pua come in fri morning, so if I claim this Thursday would the 1800 come that Monday possibly the 19th? Or the following Monday which would really suck

        • Were you getting the initial additional relief payments of $600/week earlier in the year that ran out July 31st? According to what the other poster said, whenever you got that payment in relation to your regular PUA, that’s when the lump sum *should* be either deposited, or pre-paid benefit card sent out. For example, I claim Sunday, get the email on Monday that the payment was sent to my bank for deposit and the PUA deposit is available first thing Tuesday. When I was getting the additional $600, it would be deposited Monday morning. So fingers crossed that the stars and universe and sh*t align just right and NJ gets their stuff in order so we can all finally get a little relief.

        • Yeah when I was getting the 600 it came the following Monday, so slim chance when I certify Thursday evening, that the 1800 would come the Monday which is the 19th,

        • so I was unemployed on the 5th but I didnt get unemployment or file my claim until mid September so I am ineligible ?

        • Same here. Checked the box but received no confirmation or notice that i completed. Nor did the page I linked to have a “submit” button like you would see on literally every other form I’ve ever filled out on the internet.

          Does anybody know how to tell if I completed this properly?
          I’ve been trying to call. But of course i cant reach anybody.

  13. Has anyone who has been making a small amount of money here and there received any benefits since 8/1?

    I have a very small business. I have therefore included any income made for each week I file. And I have not made money e wry week. I claimed for some of the weeks since 8/1 appx $150 in a week. I then get a notice at the end of certifying for that week that I did have income that I’m not eligible (even though that’s less then the weekly benefit) and there are many reasons but I’ll get a notice if it’s being
    considered. I then get a link in my email to fill out an extensive form which I keep filling our when they send it, but I get no notice that I have to stop filling claims or that I no longer qualify. However, I also don’t receive any money.
    I’m also wondering if this means I will not receive the $300 benefit?

    Reply
  14. RACHEL,
    You said when you went to claim you had to choose from 3 boxes asking if you were unemployed due to covid. Are u on regular unemployment. I claim on Mondays. However i am on PUA and every week since the start is a questionnaire asking to pick box that’s closest to describing why im unemployed(due to covid). I didnt get anything asking to pick out of 3. So tgats why i am asking if ur regular unemployment or PUA. If ur regular then this definitely seems like how they are distinguishing those who receive LWA. Those on PUA are already asked those questions before we certify. Granted we have more than 3 to pick from but all basically relate to covid..just different scenarios. For example.. Family member has covid and now I am caregiver.. Or I was told to quarentine by health official. I lost hours due to covid. I can’t reach place of employment due to shutdown. Childcare issue from shutdown. Or my job closed to due covid. These arent exact but pretty much sum up a few options to pick from. But like I said…all are due to vivid. I guess PUA asks every week anyway so maybe if ur on regular unemployment…this is way to check if u lost job due to covid. Maybe this is how regular UI certifies for LWA ? Seems possible. The mid to late Oct date on here has nothing to due with any actual info. Its up because sept 20th came and NJ said Oct. So was switched to early Oct. That came and still nothing so switch to mid to late..because thats only way to describe the rest if the month. Its not ACTUAL DATE. JUST AN ESTIMATE. A GUESS

    Reply
    • My love I’m referring to when u click “check stat of claim”. It’ll have something that says “self service options” that’s where they talk about the 300$. I know what you’re talking about. When I actually claim I have to check the box as well but this is something different and new. If u follow the directions as I just gave you’ll see what I’m talking about. A few ppl on her did what I said and they see it as well.

      Reply
    • The NJDOL posted it on their website and Governor Clown Murphy Address it in his weekly briefing. Im on PUA. Go to check claim status and you will see it.

      Reply
      • Hey jeff, that’s not what I said. What I said was to click on “CHECK CLAIM STATUS” and you’ll see what I’m talking about

        Reply
        • Week of October 19th I forget what everything said, but when the pop up thing comes up says click the box on the page check claim status, I googled it and nj.com said it to

        • The NJ Labor Department has officially confirmed that LWA payments are expected during the week of October 19. It could be anytime that week and will done in a single lump sum payment for eligible weeks (maximum of 6 weeks or $1800). About time NJ!

    • The date for the money to start going out is October 19th. I see this has now been updated in the article.

      Reply
    • I have a question has Nevada received the funds to pay us? And will we get all 6 weeks and do they actually have the funds. How and when does the government give them the money?

      Reply
  15. Why is NJ not all over the News please someone help us let the president and Congress people know we are really hurting out here. Every single state but 3 have received there LWA payments but our governor is sitting on our money. This is so wrong please help NJ.

    Reply
  16. Hey I have a question, does the LWA payment go with the regular payment when you usually receive it or does it come a couple days later?

    Reply
    • Its An Update On LWA on the NJDOL Website. Go To Check Your Claim here. Out all your info in S.S.N, D.O.B. , Email, and Name. Then at the bottom its going to say if you were impacted by covid-19 chexk this box. Check the box then i guess your good. After that the box is no longer checkable, it going gray. Hopefully that’s all we have to do

      Reply
      • Did yours go grey and unchecked? No confirmation number or Additional email? Mines went grey when i clicked to certify but when i log back in the box still needs to be checked.
        Should i just hope it worked the first time i checked it?

        Reply
        • That’s y I said check ya email..after I hit the box n it turned grey I recieved a email ..which is what give me the assumption I’m good ..so yes check ya email ppl

        • Whoever hasn’t been certifying for COVID is the ones that’ll be getting the emails about LWA. the ones that already been certifying doesn’t need to do anything and isn’t going to get an email. It says that they’ll just make a payment.

    • You will probably get the money 1 day earlier than your regular UI pay. I used to get $600 extra pay on Monday, which is a day before my reg. pay.
      BTW, Murphy announced today that $300 as a lump sum payment will be made on week of Oct 19, which falls on Monday. Everyone who has been receiving PUA ($208 + $600) should get it automatically. Thank god, I could really use the money.

      Reply
  17. These politicians get paid a few hundred thousad a year. Some worth millions and in some cases billions. Trump signed this 300 LWA bill over a month ago. NJ was approved what three weeks ago? What the blankety blank blank is taking so long. A millionaire or billionaire just doesnt know struggle. Yeah, Covid caught everyone by suprise. Trump did his part. Murphy needs to do his and stop his petty finger pointing. Hes sitting on our relief and hiding behind this excuse of antiquated computer system. We jniw who qualifies. Disperse the blankety blank blank money. People are losing more than jobs. We voted for you in many cases. Start showing us why.

    Reply
    • Trump and other NJ politicians are the swamp! Both Dems and Republicans are to blame because they don’t communicate. They don’t care about anyone and all they look at is the political calculus. It’s a joke and the butt of the joke are the Main Street (or broke street now) Americans who get screwed no matter what. So angry!

      Reply
      • Amen to that. It’s 100% true. I am truly struggling and 300 a week extra would defenity help me. Seems like out of all the states. We’re the only one not paying anything out yet..most states ready got all their payments. It’s not rite. If they were in our shoes. Theid no how it felt nd it would get done asap. I guarantee that. Them rich people have never seen hardship before. It’s awful

        Reply
    • We do have voting power and I, for one, will exercise this right. If you are unhappy with our elected officials, vote according to your convictions and conscience. I am not telling you how to vote because this is purely a personal action. This is what many citizens are doing this election – if a candidate is running for reelection, you can vote for the other candidate, no matter what political party he/she belongs. Clean house. This will send a message to our wealthy elected officials that the American people are fed up with being ignored and stepped on. Use your vote wisely. We all worked hard to keep this important voice in our government.

      Reply
  18. Governor Murphy is a joke!!! He waited to the last minute to apply for the FEMA unemployment on purpose because he’s a sh***y governor! He cares nothing about the people of this state. There are states that applied later than New Jersey and they’re already being paid!!! He’s Holding onto that money on purpose he has no intention of giving it to us!!!

    Reply
    • I just read that he was asked about it on Monday and he really said he doesn’t have an update! Like what???? are you freaking kidding me! This is bullshit already.

      Reply
      • Rachel..i saw what you were talking about on the nj dol site with the covid for you to click under three options but one is asking you to certify i click it as well but like you nothing happened well hopefully thats a start to us getting the 300 lwa because every state has paid out the lwa benefits except for us in new jersey just ridiculous we still waiting

        Reply
        • rachel and ray i did the same i am pua and it asked one question i checked the box i usually call i went online today to check checked the box and said click ok after i set to click ok i cant change my answer is that normal

      • Just got some hopefully great new about our lwa pay and I was told by someone close in office that our money should start rolling early next week !!!! But let’s just keep our fingers crossed

        Reply
    • I agree no the 300.00 LWA has been pushed back to mid to late October. this governor could care less about the people in NJ.

      Reply
      • I agree 100% he applied last minute. And has no updates! Are u kidding me. Ppl Arnt eating. People are struggling so bad it’s insannne. Put him in our shoes and he would know how hard this has truly been. And ofcourse he doesn’t care..he has plenty of money. So Why care about the people in your state that look to you for help… It’s b.s nd it’s sad he needs to seriously get this done..truly

        Reply
        • Yep. I’ve been waiting 15 weeks for my first check. Nuthin’…and no one can give me any update beyond “We escalated your concern. You’ll have to wait a few weeks but they’ll get back to you.”

    • Wtf are you talking about he applied for nj so what the hell would he go through all that trouble. He wants your vote first .we won’t get until the 28 th of October .or after the election

      Reply
      • Easy folks. What we are looking at is a massive failure from both our Federal & State Governments. Federal government for not developing a National Plan to combat this virus and extending stimulus packages. State governments for not having adequate Labor Unemployment procedures in place. NJ is especially bad and they rank at the bottom of the dog crap pile for helping their residents during this crisis. I don’t know what the hel* is going on with NJDOL. Why are they are lagging so much? Why are we not receiving regular updates to NJ Residents about unemployment insurance. Those numbers they keep publishing; I wonder if they would hold up to an audit? In my humble opinion and the way things have been managed, I doubt it. Nothing but silence from the NJDOL Commissioner and Claims Adjusters. No communication about status, can’t reach anyone on the phone to help you. A total cluster f*ck. Why NJ refuse to pay claims from your last day on the job, not file date when the rest of the da*n country pays from last date of employment is just horrible. I’m starting to loathe all politicians. Don’t care what party they are. Politicians continue to collect a paycheck and insurance compliments of our tax money while the Average American burns at the stake during this crisis.

        Reply
      • After the election could be months then…. While people are seriously struggling badly now. Nd yes if he applied when the other 40 states did,instead of waiting about a month to apply. Wede be getting it or about to. Now it’s the end of October or after the election…nd don’t get me wrong. I’m great full for the help. Extremely. But untill the help comes. We have to suffer

        Reply
    • Do you think that Trump is capable of caring about people even if he wanted to?
      Just curious on your thoughts on him.
      Not trying to be rude.
      I’m really curious about how people see the president.

      Reply
  19. It’s so sad how so many of us have to try and make ends meet with 208 a week. We get no information on when we will receive that extra 300. How are we suppose to pay or bills and be ok. Why don’t people in government try to live off of this and then maybe they will understand what we are feeling and dealing with.

    Reply
    • Ur absolutely correct,put them in our shoes and theid have it done in a day or a week. We get 0 updates like every other state did,which 90% of states got it all already or almost all payments. It’s sad. What do we have to do? Check our account dailey and pray it is there one day? This is sad and I’m struggling.we all are

      Reply
  20. Has anyone heard about the 300? I filed for my unemployment today. Nothing came up saying anything about LWA. Shocker…screwed over yet AGAIN by NJ

    Reply
    • They updated NJ it says now mid to late October now cause they still working on the system and it be a lump sum payment in 1 or to 2 payments so basically 900.00 in one then another 900.00 or they said they may just pay out the whole 1800.00 they not sure how yet how they wanna pay it but we will get the 1800.00

      Reply
      • Ray,

        You have a link for this? Maybe I missed it. I don’t see it on the NJDOL website or NJDOL Twitter.

        Reply
        • New Jersey has no sense of urgency and should be held liable for their gross negligence against us…. this is of no surprise to me that they would hold up an emergency benefit for its unemployment recipients. New Jersey is financially abusing it’s residents during a global pandemic oh, I am seriously disgusted

        • I know. The sad part is that this pandemic is not over; not even close. There is no national plan to deal with it. It is going to get really bad with thousands dying in the next few months. New Jersey is just awful. I’m not blaming them for the virus. They are woefully negligent in their handling of Federal Funds that have been designated to help us. I base these comments on other states and how they are dealing with this. NJ ranks at the very botto. It is tough to read some of the comments about people going under. Someone commented on the last Murphy covid update youtube video that Murphy instructed reporters to not ask questions about FEMA LWA. I have no idea whether these comments are true. It seems like it would be the case considering we receive NO COMMUNICATION from NJDOL.

        • Its up on saving to invest…then click on the payout table highlighted in blue you will see it…

        • There is nothing posted posted on their regular website. Just Google when is nj getting lwa payments it will show you nee jersey on top. I have been watching it for past month it has changed 3 times for like 2 weeks it said september 20 then it said early october, now it has changed again saying mid to late October estimated that’s written if they wanna change it again I assume. Nj is at bottom of the list for giving this much needed money out. They applied August 26 got approved sept 4 that’s about 6 weeks to get a program up. No excuse why we haven’t got it other states with triple unemployment numbers have paid or are paying now. They have to give it out it’s federal money my guess is if it’s in their bank they can keep the interest. Has to be itleast a billion dollars.

        • I don’t know. I’m hearing more about the interest thing. I’m not one for conspiracy theories but there really is no excuse to wait this long when 95% of our sister states have paid the LWA out. Arizona over a month ago. Only a few loser states left and one of them is NJ. When you receive no communication, updates, status and everything is silent with zero transparency, warning flags go up signaling something is wrong or nefarious. The OIT that supports the technology infrastructure of NJDOL are colossal failures.

        • Nefarious is the best descriptive word for New Jersey’s antics right about now.

        • Ok ppl so for some reason I went in the NJDOL site and I clicked “ see claim stat” and put my info and the info for 300$ is there. Says if u were impacted by COVID to click that. So I did and that was it lmao. Nothing else happened BUT that’s way better news cause we haven’t heard shit!!! Try it out ppl

        • I did what Rachel said to do on your claim status and then that was it, couldn’t change answer ,it’s a start

    • I’m waiting too. I checked last Thursday n it said expect to be paid October 1st. Now it says early October.

      Reply
      • This is all I get from NJDOL site
        This is the response from their “auto agent” in the chat window…
        “$300 Additional Payment Facts:
        AVAILABLE: week ending for 8/1/20, 8/8/20, 8/15/20, 8/22/2020, 8/29/2020, and 9/5/2020 only
        ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS: Unemployment Insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
        CRITERIA: Must have applied for unemployment benefits or PUA and been paid at least $100 in benefits for the weeks listed above to be eligible for LWA, AND must certify that your unemployment for the week(s) was related to covid19
        Expected to be paid in October.”

        I don’t see anywhere saying WHEN in October…it’s insane that 95% of the other states have already begun or in some cases finished their payouts. I was a realtor so I’m only getting (after taxes) $208/week. Who can survive on that? I’m having to break up my cell phone bill and paying that off week by week…and other bills are being ignored…I can’t live like this, none of us can!

        Reply
        • Something has to be done why is there a problem issuing out lwa payments in NJ the same way they gave out the $600 a week they can send out $300 a week.

        • I seen this too. Still no damn answer. I’m so fed up wit their asses. I feel like calling and rippin them a new one

        • oh yeah let’s call the hired help that has no authority to do anything and yell at them LOL, I wish I could get a hold of someone with authority or the ability to actually do something helpful or useful. We can’t even get an actual unemployment or Department of Labor employee on the phone it’s absolutely discouraging and Beyond frustrating

      • What if you were unemployed in August due to covid, but have returned to work. Are you still eligible to get retro 300$ for those weeks?

        Reply
        • Yes. The LWA program covers weeks from Aug 1 to Sep 5, so if you were unemployed during those weeks you are eligible for retroactive payments

      • I was able to do what Rachel did under the status section. They have a 3 “self-service” check boxes…the first one having you qualify that everything we’re going through with work is because of Covid only. A warning pops up to tell you you can’t change your answers but when I went back in, my check box was cleared and it let me go through the whole thing over again…

        Reply
        • Everyone,

          Rachel was right. After click claim status, you will see the following “To be eligible for the $300 LWA payment, you must certify that you are not employed for a COVID related reason. By clicking this check box, I agree that my employment was impacted by COVID-19.”. – END. Soooooo….you click it and it appears to take and the check mark is greyed out. That’s it. What the hell it means, I don’t know. They tell you nothing like you will receive a payment. How typical!! We will see. Where the hel* is the announcement by NJDOL that this is available like the Governor of West Virginia. What I will tell everyone, NJDOL is so screwed up that you need to take your time and make sure you key in and select the right information. If you make a mistake like a wrong number or selection, you are screwed. You will NEVER get in contact with someone to get it corrected by these meat-heads at NJDOL. People are so rude and condescending. They have no idea how they are destroying peoples lives by not pulling their heads out of their as* and get their sh*t together. Definitely a FUBAR situation.

        • I want to know how you submit it…filled it out 3 times and it just sits there. How do we know if they received it?

        • You don’t have to do anything it will
          Automatically deposit in your account if you were unemployed for Covid reasons .

        • Thanks for the reply…Well I must have sent it in around 7-8 times so I guess they know it is covid related lol

  21. ON AUG 2 MY 13 WEEK EXTENTION ENDED…THE NEXT WEEK I SAW MY EXTION FUNDED AT 8900 BUT RECEIVED NO PAY. THEY SAID I HAD TO DO A TOLL OUT VERIFACTION.. I RECEIVED NOTHING IN WRITING ABOUT THIS. NOW IT EARLY OCT AND AFTER FAXING PAYSUBSDATING BACK TO SEPT 2019 WHICH IS THE LAST TIME I WORKED I STILL HAVE HEARD NOTHING.
    I WONDER IF YOU CAN SUE THEM IF YOU ARE TRULLY OWED THE MONEY AND GET NOTHING

    Reply
  22. Andy,

    Any news for NJ LWA? Other than sometime in October ? NJDOL hasn’t posted anything other than saying program should be ready in October. Has anyone heard anything else??

    Reply
      • Rachel, i’m hoping to clarify in my head. What you said about going on claim status, and clicking the box if unemployed due to covid……is that even if each week when you certify you click one of the boxes that is covid related ? Thanks for your help. We are certainly not getting any help from our state.

        Reply
        • I said to click the check claim status. Not to
          Claim. And btw we do have an date for the 19th

        • I have a feeling Jeffery was planted by the state (as someone else had mentioned) to placate those of us who are panicking and on the verge of losing everything. NJ seems to be the last state to even start payments and nothing I can find anywhere tells us when this $300 will go out. All I’m finding is “October” or “Sometime in October”. Why do I have a feeling it’s going to be October 31st?

        • I claim on Sunday too, and this morning was my usual $208…..wondering how I’m going to make it…

      • O please. U didnt see that anywhere. Good try tho. No one has seen or heard ANYTHING about NJ at all since the DOL posted WEEKS AGO that program SHOULD be in place by October. Key word : should. Didnt say it will be or any date. So please stop posting Oct 1st..cuz thats almost a week ago. And stop saying this week or next week, like Andy posted in a different section..yet here Andy posts “dont hold your breath”. Even the person who should have some kind of update ( because they have updates for every other state) doesnt know any more they we do…which is NOTHING

        Reply
        • Nothing official on NJ DOL site or social media. So I would not hold my breath….this is sad as 90%+ of states have already made the full payment already.

        • He didn’t,(see it) believe me I check every day…I was thankful to find this thread..but sadly more of the same boat…$208 a week and no info.. no human contact whatsoever with unemployment, hopefully the $600 returns soon

        • When we getting the extra 300 how you know first week in October plesse some one help we need this money is it gonna come I n tommtoow

        • According to the news today, Trump halted all talks regarding emergency help until after the election now. And of course there was finally something both parties agreed upon and looked like it would have been approved today, but he made his proclamation yesterday about wanting to focus on putting someone new on the bench (that will kick us while we’re down and have us living a Handmaidens Tale existence) instead of continuing talks as a priority before the election, so the Struggling American people would have to wait.

      • Really? Lol. STOP MAKING UP DATES. U DI NOT SEE THAT ANYWHERE. GIVING PEOPLE FALSE INFO WHEN THEY ARE DESPERATE IS DANGEROUS !!!

        Reply
  23. I have been unemployed since June and I have not received ANY unemployment pay. I have been approved. Received my determination letter. I called and they said I was approved. Call my place of employment and they said they handed in all paperwork by August 19th. Unemployment claimed they just needed to update my application then I would start getting paid out. Still nothing. I called my congresswoman’s office and they filed an inquiry. Nothing so far.
    Unemployment has been telling me different things. The people they have us talking to in NJ cannot actually do anything to process a claim. There are no live agents that process claims, no supervisors, no physical person to speak to other than the worker that looks at a screen and tells you what they see.
    They escalate a claim which takes up to 5 additional weeks after waiting 4 going on 5 months for any pay.
    I am at a loss. I have family in NY who received their pay and back pay and can actually speak to people who have the authority to work on their claim and process. INSANITY.

    Reply
    • This sounds like a fraud issue. Does your payment portal showed any paid amounts? Contact your local Congress or state rep

      Reply
      • Andy,
        Why do you think it is fraud issue? My local state senators office is just as angry as I am. They can’t do anything with the NJDOL and believe me, they have been trying. As they commented to me, the NJDOL are all over the place and nobody knows what is going on. Angelina E. has stated consistently what is happening with thousands of other NJ Residents are saying the exact same thing when dealing with the NJDOL. It is the same story over and over again. I’m interested in hearing why do you think it is fraud?

        Reply
        • FORGET THE SENATORS, CALL THE GOVERNOR! My buddy did that when he couldn’t get thru and after a week got everything he was owed. Granted, that happened back in late April, but still, it did work for him then. Might work for you now… Good luck,

        • Zach,

          Thanks for the suggestions. That is not going to work. Many on here have made recommendations to call these numbers, call when the moon is full or during the grunion run, Easter bunny, Santa Claus blah blah blah…nothing ever works out. There are a few stragglers that make claims they were successful in this forum. I believe they are lying and work for the state to come here to cover for their mass incompetence and staggering stupidity. Purpose to deflect and make it seem like they are doing a great job. Their comments don’t add up to a majority of what people are experiencing. Most of them barely graduated from middle school. Not the sharpest tools in the shed.

        • Good afternoon frustrated. My local Senator’s office just called me and he was very excited to tell me their unemployment liaison informed him that they are starting to process and pay backdated payments 2 when people became unemployed. He said that they started the process last week and that the Department of Labor basically has to delete all of our current claims and issue new claims for us (i was told they have to do it this way bc their current system does not allow this type of action to take place so they had to create a new web system that has this function) and they’re working on this load now apparently starting last week, so what will happen as I am told is that they’re going 2 delete our old claims and re-issue us each a new claim in which we will have the opportunity to certify for those missed weeks and basically he said we just need to be patient and that the Department of Labor will be reaching out to us by email with information on what to do or instructions of some sort. I don’t know if this information is 100% factual but I am just expecting the worst and hoping for the best and not getting excited and trying not to get mad anymore about it. It’s out of our hands obviously I just hope that this is actually what will happen and sooner rather than later.

        • Well I did my certify claim yesterday and I received my weekly 208 after the taxes came out this morning and 2AM, I don’t know if I would be getting an email from unemployment as I am already on it due to covid reasons for pua, but I know that myself and million others are going to be constantly checking their emails every day lol I know that I have been already lol. I’m just glad we got some kind of guesstimate date finally

        • Angelina G:

          I know you mentioned your local Senator office told you the following: “need to be patient and that the Department of Labor will be reaching out to us by email with information on what to do or instructions of some sort.” The NJDOL has been stating that same crap for 5 months now that they will reach out to us in some capacity and you will receive emails in 2 weeks blah blah blah…yada yada yada. Complete lies. I will believe it when I see it. Sick and tired of them telling me to be patient when 95% of other states are outperforming them yet we have a ridiculously high tax burden. They have the capacity to back date claims now. They stated they will have to delete claims and start over and using some kind of web based system instead. Oy Vey…. It is possible they could have some kind of web interface to their antiquated Cobol System (been around since before Christ). If they are trying to tell you that they are doing a complete system overhaul with something new, they are full of sh*t. Not in this short period of time. We will see I guess. They have zero credibility at this point. NOTHING they have said has been truthful from contacting us to having their reps tell us over the phone that we are not entitled to retroactive back pay to when you were first unemployed. Why not send out a communication telling NJ residents what is going on with Retroactive Back Pay.

          Vee – you mentioned you received an email about this retroactive new procedure and system to get backdated claim money to NJ Residents. Could you either cut and paste the contents of the email or give a description of what was in the email.

        • Your unemployment claim has been backdated to include additional week(s) of unemployment payments for which you have met eligibility standards after our staff analyzed your claim and recent response.

          To facilitate the backdating of your claim, your existing claim has been canceled and a new claim has been created with the appropriate start date to allow you to claim benefits for this earlier period.

          ***ATTENTION*** You will receive a letter in the mail stating that you have been overpaid by the Division of Unemployment Insurance. This is an automatically-generated letter. There is nothing to worry about, and no need to respond – it is just a part of the process of changing the start date of your unemployment claim.

          On Saturday you can go online and certify for weekly benefits. In order to receive all of your benefits, you must now certify for all weeks for which you wish to receive payment (including any weeks you previously completed a weekly certification for on your original claim).

          Please remember to report all income received during the week that is being requested (even if you reported it before). We recommend that, before beginning the weekly certifications, you organize the information about all hours worked and all wages earned during each week of your claim. You will have multiple weeks of certifications to complete.

          You may notice two differences in your weekly certification screens.

          First, it is possible that your weekly benefit rate (WBR) may have changed. As the start date of the unemployment claim has changed, the mandatory federal calculation of benefits may require us to analyze your earnings during an earlier period.

          Second, as we process the benefits (both from the earlier start date and the re-processing of benefits you already received), some weeks of benefits you certify for now will not create payments to you, but rather cancel out the “overpayment” from the previous claim. In the end, you will receive all the funds due to you. Payment(s) will be issued to you for all weeks owed.

          For all new weeks paid between 3/29/2020 and 7/25/2020, you are also eligible for an additional $600 per week through Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).

          Thank you for your patience as we expand unemployment assistance eligibility to meet your needs.

          Division of Unemployment Insurance

          New Jersey Department of Labor

        • Should I attempt to file a new claim since no one at NJDOL will answer how I should handle my last day of employment (Jan) vs my claim date (June)

        • You have to call them to put an escalation form in keep calling and stress the issue that’s what I did I’m not able to my son does virtual school and it’s overwhelming trying to find trusted babysitters I have infant and a toddler

        • What did you have to do in order to get them to “notice you” and therefore receive this email?

      • I don’t think it is fraud. My last week paid still says zero. I think this is an incompetence issue and a logistical issue.
        They told me throughout the course of this how many different departments my claim went through.
        I was appalled at the lack of efficiency. Waited weeks for an e adjudication appointment where the only thing they asked me is if I sent back the form filled out which it clearly says online (another waste of time).
        They drag this out either because they don’t have the money or they want people to give up on figuring it out. It is made to frustrate people for a reason. The government does not care about each person because they don’t see the value in an individual they have to support or assist. Because of us they are necessary.
        It is sad.
        I will post if I have any success.

        Reply
    • I was laid off because my work was closed from COVID March 3rd and didn’t get my unemployment until May 25th. I got ALL OF IT then, retroactively. Luckily I had money in the bank to make it that long, but it can take a very long time before you receive payment.

      Reply
  24. I have been unemployed since June and I have not received ANY unemployment pay. I have been approved. Received my determination letter. I called and they said I was approved. Call my place of employment and they said they handed in all paperwork by August 19th. Unemployment claimed they just needed to update my application then I would start getting paid out. Still nothing. I called my congresswoman’s office and they filed an inquiry. Nothing so far.
    Unemployment has been telling me different things. The people they have us talking to in NJ cannot actually do anything to process a claim. There are no live agents that process claims, no supervisors, no physical person to speak to other than the worker that looks at a screen and tells you what they see.
    They escalate a claim which takes up to 5 additional weeks after waiting 4 going on 5 months for any pay.
    I am at a loss. I have family in NY who received their pay and back pay and can actually speak to people who have the authority to work on their claim abs process. INSANITY.

    Reply
      • That number is just the reemployment call center. That is the general number where you cannot reach anyone who can manage your claim. They just give you information that they see on the screen and escalate inquiries.

        Reply
  25. Has anyone heard anything about the $300? I know DOL said program SHOULD be in place in October. By any word on when? Like 1st week of Oct…or do they mean oct 31st? Just curious if anyone has heard anything at all. I keep reading about people asking how to get back payments and all. I am self employed. Last day of work was march 28th. Filed unemployment Apr 19th. Was approved exactly 3wks later. But was told id be paid for date I filed..not for last day of employment. Why is it different for others? Is it because I’m on PUA?

    Reply
    • people who receive Pua are technically Eligible to receive unemployment retroactive to when they became unemployed not the date of them filing. Apparently unemployment has a system in place where they approve all PUA claims at the lowest benefit amount of $231 per week and they only start the claim from the date people file. They are supposed to be following up with all of the Pua recipients to go over their income so that they can adjust their weekly benefit amount according to their income and also to verify the last date of employment for them so that they can date their claim accordingly 2 when you became unemployed not too when you filed. Unfortunately unemployment is not contacting us . Many people are receiving just $231 per week and should be receiving double that because their income is much higher. And a lot of people didn’t even know that they could file for Pua until June and July and some even into August. all were told to do is file an escalation form so that they can have a claims adjuster backdate our claims. in an attempt on unemployment behalf quickly get everyone approved they just push through all Pua claims at the minimum benefit amount and only retroactive to the date they filed the claim. I understand their reasoning but what is the delay still in follwing up with us?

      Reply
      • Well Stated & The Truth!!!

        This is exactly what is going on. NJDOL workers are telling NJ Residents over the phone that they are not entitled to retroactive to your last day of employment, only from the date you file which is a flat out lie. I assume people then just give up. NJ just continues to dig its hole deeper. I hope the moderator in this forum will sticky your post. Very informative for people who do not know what is going on. I will keep you posted whether I get the NJDOL email. Should be coming soon. Getting sick of this. They are hurting so many people. I’m down to nickels and dimes myself.

        Pennsylvania pays retroactive from last day of employment; not claim file date!!
        Pennsylvania Backdated PUA Claims and Payments:
        PUA claims can be backdated to January 27, 2020 or to the first week you were unemployed due to COVID-19, whichever of the two dates is later.
        The system will backdate your claim to when you first became unemployed, as reported by you when you enter your last day of work.

        You will NOT receive a confirmation email after submitting your initial PUA claim. Your determination information will be available in your dashboard on the PUA website.

        Payments will be made in one lump sum either via direct deposit or to a UC-issued debit card through U.S. Bank, whichever method you chose when you applied.

        If you’re eligible, approved and have no issues with your PUA claim, you should receive your first lump sum payment within one week or less after filing backdated claims.

        Reply
        • I recently got a call about my backpay. Finally was able to hear good news. I was hearing you wouldn’t get an y backpay from march but she confirmed with me and that I’ll have a email coming but that it’ll take a couple weeks. Thats the only bummer!!! I keep checking my email hoping that it’ll come sooner. She actually did mention that lots of new ppl are working on this now so that it might come sooner than expected. Praying on it. Do you know how long it usually takes?

        • That is exactly what happened to me. I didn’t even know I could get UI being that I was self employed. When I was told I was able to receive benefits it wasn’t till late Aug. I got all excited and when I called to make sure they told me I wasn’t able to get back payments so I gave up. It didn’t even make sense to me at this point but just last week I was told differently and that I was able to get everything retroactive. I applied last Mon. I am so confused to how this all works tho. Will I get a lump some? I was approved already only for 231 which is crazy considering I was making 3xs that. How will I be paid? My date to claim my 1st payment is tomorrow. How will I be paid retroactive for the 600 for the 13 weeks? Will that come weekly as well or a lump some? Can someone pease try to fill me in on how this works. Thanks so much

        • I am so sorry it took you until August to find out about the Pua benefits. But you’re only going to get backdated to the date that you filed your claim although technically it’s supposed to be too when we became unemployed going back as far as January 27th according to all the Publications that are available on the Department of Labor’s websites but they don’t want to pay us all the way back so they’re pretty much just dragging their feet and not telling us anything and we’re trying to figure it out here in this comment section trying to see if anybody has any luck actually getting retroactive payments all the way to March but keep checking back here maybe one of us will get lucky and be able to give advice on how to get it but at this point it’s not looking very promising

        • I am reposting this. Seemed as though it was ignored/missed the first time. According to one of the legislators who helped put in the bill mentioned we are NOT currently entitled to retroactive benefits from when the last paycheck was issued.Therefore everyone needs to call and email the following people:
          “Thank you for contacting us regarding this bill. I believe the legislation you are referring to is A4534/S2774 (provides that effective date of unemployment claim is date on which individual becomes unemployed). We are continuing to push this bill and trying to get it posted in committee. I suggest that you reach out to the first prime sponsors of the bill (Assemblyman Johnson and Senator Weinberg) to let them know you support the bill and wish to see it move forward. I also suggest you reach out to the Assembly labor committee chair (Assemblyman Egan) and the Senate labor committee chair (Senator Madden) to tell them the same thing as the bill has been referred to these committees.”

          Legislative Director
          Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle
          37th Legislative District

        • Ok everyone,
          I copied a link again that was provided by the owner of this forum. The owner of this forum did an excellent job regarding explaining Retroactive Back Pay and how to get it. Please read through to clear up any confusion. NJDOL have got their heads so far up their as*, they don’t know whether they are coming or going. I’m just floored they STILL can’t get it together even with the distribution of the LWA FEMA Funds. Their continued silence, zero communication and overall handling proves that. You don’t hear from them because they don’t know what the hel* they are doing. I’m comparing their performance to NY and other states that are not even close to our tax burden.

          https://savingtoinvest.com/retroactive-600-unemployment-fpuc-payment-delays/

      • Hello there I was able to claim my dates back from March. Do I need to fill out a form to receive the $600 retro? Thank you

        Reply
        • I sent an email to the office of Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle who was one of the 3 representatives who had submitted a bill that supports that effective date of unemployment claim is date on which individual becomes unemployed.

          The response was the following:

          “Thank you for contacting us regarding this bill. I believe the legislation you are referring to is A4534/S2774 (provides that effective date of unemployment claim is date on which individual becomes unemployed). We are continuing to push this bill and trying to get it posted in committee. I suggest that you reach out to the first prime sponsors of the bill (Assemblyman Johnson and Senator Weinberg) to let them know you support the bill and wish to see it move forward. I also suggest you reach out to the Assembly labor committee chair (Assemblyman Egan) and the Senate labor committee chair (Senator Madden) to tell them the same thing as the bill has been referred to these committees. Let us know if you need anything else.”

        • The question begs why Assemblyman Egan and Senator Madden have not moved forward with bill A4534/S2774 (provides that effective date of unemployment claim is date on which individual becomes unemployed). It has been 2 months since first introduced back in 1st of August. What the hel* are they waiting on? The both of them are chairs on Labor Committees. That’s interesting. I guess they are oblivious to the fact that NJ Residents are suffering due to the worst crisis this country has ever experienced and that THEIR Labor Departments have failed. Sitting back and being comfortable with their salaries compliments of the NJ Tax Payer that we pay via our high taxes. You would think they would have moved on this immediately. Seems like the holding up of this bill is intentional.

          Many of you who either participate or browse in this forum, please contact their offices and demand that they move forward with this bill. In addition, if any of you know someone or perhaps a friend or a friend of a friend that has contacts or knows someone at CNN, NYT, MSNBC, Star Legder, Daily Record, Washington Post and all media outlets to expose this. They are intentionally holding this up. It will take more than just calling their offices.

        • Good morning frustrated oh, okay now I am thoroughly confused so we need to pass a bill to be able to have our claims backdated to when we became unemployed instead of when we filed? That’s ridiculous it is stated in numerous articles that we qualify from date of employment loss so why do we need a bill passed to enforce it? This is just absolutely crazy and besides they cast that why do we need to pass any bills to implement it. I am starting to believe that they are just making it so difficult so that people will just eventually give up and I’m at the point now where I’m just ready to give up this is so frustrating and so bizarre

        • Hey Angelina G.,

          Yea…I’m scratching my head on this one. I thought about writing about this yesterday, but was to tired. Writing about this is draining. This bill A4534/S2774 thing is puzzling. Why would they need this bill if the retroactive was supposed to be in place. At the top of this forum, right before the forum starts, Tyler N. claimed he got his retroactive FPUC $600. A very small few have mentioned in this forum that they received retroactive pay going back to April for FPUC. Whether those are truthful statements, I really don’t know. They don’t seem to add up with what everyone else is experiencing in this forum. The moderator who owns this forum wrote that all states will pay retroactive in one of the links that I posted. Guidance from the USDOL states the following on retroactive: “As states begin providing this payment, eligible individuals will receive retroactive payments back to their date of eligibility or the signing of the state agreement, whichever came later. All states have executed agreements with the department as of March 28, 2020. The CARES Act specifies that FPUC benefit payments will end after payments for the last week of unemployment before July 31, 2020.”

          The sad part is that the NJDOL could clear all this up by providing DETAILED information on their website. Of course this is intentional. The goal for them is to force us to give up. As I mentioned before, their website is a colossal joke. NJDOL getting pounded with criticism on twitter. If you haven’t already, read the link provided by the moderator/owner of this forum on Retroactive pay. I cut and pasted in one of my post.

        • Yes I read the article, I have done all my due diligence & research before filing so that I knew what to expect and what I was entitled to. we are definitely not inventing our expectations, yes these are all new programs but it is wrong on so many levels to tell us one thing and then contradict it over and over and over again. This is an extremely serious matter, we are supporting our families and trying to not to lose everything. I could understand if the New Jersey Division of Revenue contacted each person who filed a profit & loss statement in the last 2 yrs & said hey ypu can get pua so go file nback march & april but then we missed the oppurtunity to collect at that time due to our own inaction,

    • girl im wondering the same thing. this is really annoying me!!!! we should’ve got it by now smh. at first it said September 20th, now of course it switches to “early October. so over all this already. I wish they’ll at least put a damn date like everyone else

      Reply
      • Rachel,
        In answer to your question regarding how long it takes for them to contact you via email about retroactive pay after their phone call to you – don’t hold your breath and bet the farm on that. Your guess is as good as mine. Many have mentioned on here that they get a call with promises of contact within 2 weeks and you never hear from them. Always crying the same lame as* excuse about being overwhelmed; yet other states are doing much better after 7 mos. I posted above how PA pays retroactive from the date you become unemployed; not file claim date. NYSDOL states the same thing in bold letters on their website:

        New York State
        “Any claim you file will be backdated to the date you became unemployed. If you are eligible, you will be paid for all benefits due.”

        The numerous times I have called NJDOL, I get different responses from different telephone reps regarding the retroactive pay from 1). we pay from claim file date, not when you became unemployed; 2) you will not receive an email from us, it will just appear in your account automatically; 3) you will receive an email in 2 weeks; 4) we will fill out this escalation form and you will hear from our claims rep in 2 weeks; 5) you absolutely will not get a call from us, it will just automatically deposit into your account.

        Uh huh!!

        I think what is exceptionally cruel is for the NJ labor department to PROMISE action to people who are suffering immeasurably who are waiting on these promises holding on by a thread with their lives being ruined on a daily basis and not deliver.

        Reply
        • Frustrated,
          NJDOL are behaving like crooks & it is completely unethical & irresponsible for them to not acknowledge their outright failure to comply with distributing the federally funded money the way our congress & senate instructed the funds to be used. it is not up to the individual states discretion as to when unemployment benefits should begin for those affected by covid-19. Also I are to be paid when we became employed with the acknowledgement that the claims would need to be backdated and paid retroactively because people we’re losing work starting in March but there was no Pua benefits available for us to apply for until it was passed in the Cares Act and until a system was in place to process pua claims which did not happen until after April 29th. New Jersey Department of Labor is Despicable for this and it really is looking as though we are going to have to fight tooth and nail for what we are entitled to. And considering that New Jersey was hit so hard by covid only coming in second to New York makes is even more bizarre for them to be so reluctant to help us, they need to be investigated & prosecuted for contempt & misuse of federal funds, or whatever charges would suit this gross injustice NJ is inflicting on its self employed residents. Shame on New Jersey

        • his retroactive back-pay is a known issue. These reps from NJDOL have the audacity to tell us that we are not entitled to back-pay just confirms in my mind they have NO idea what hell they are doing; unless they are being instructed to say that which opens up a massive can of worms. NJ Residents are saying the same exact thing on NJDOL Twitter. What really gets under my skin is the nasty poor attitudes these NJDOL State Workers have when you talk to them. There are times when I want to yell at them and remind them that you are speaking to a NJ Tax Payer who pays your damn salary. ZERO Compassion. I don’t know if these rumors about class action lawsuit are true. We will see I guess. I also think this website is monitored. I think a few state workers have posted false information here. Some folks post not adding up with reality. ;)

          Hang tough Angelina. I hope victory will come soon for everyone.

        • what is the class action lawsuit about? I don’t know what it’s for any details about it.

        • Not sure Angelina. I read it on a few blogs and twitter. If indeed it is true, most likely it will not happen for awhile.

        • The only way to get what is owed is to organize. Does anyone know if there has been any steps taken to start an organized movement to fight for the money that is owed? If not, perhaps this forum should change and now be the place where we start organizing and taking action. That would include going to the news and other media outlets to give this a voice and put some pressure on the people in charge of distributing these funds.
          If this group is already formed, please post information here if you know how to get involved or reach those involved.

        • I have tried the 856 number and after I enter all of my information they sent me to talk to a representative and then I get the message that they’re all busy. This is very disheartening. I’m still owed 10 weeks of backpay.

        • In my post above I accidentally typed a “rude”voice. That was a mistake. Just a “voice.”

      • Its states that applied after us n got there money weeks ago wtf is going on with Murphy telling us Nothing absolutely nothing

        Reply
        • Someone needs to call his ass. I been hearing it’s being done purposely. Don’t know how true it is and why but this is really bullshit

    • I have been asking the same thing. Hoping it’s not the 31st things are bad enough. Doubting the stimulus package passes until after the election also. They politicians are killing us.

      Reply
    • The calendar says early October wat ever day that is I don’t know this week would be considered early October next week is mid October

      Reply
  26. It says that the extra 600 is retroactive till April 4th!! But i have not received the retroactive 600$$ beyond my application date but i do know in Massachusetts my family did theirs and they got it retroactive soo idk what to do to get it retroactive beyond my application date???

    Reply
  27. I FINALLY GOT THROUGH AND WANT TO HELP YOU.

    AT 8AM SHARP CALL (856) 507-2340
    PRESS THE OPTION TO FILE A CLAIM
    YOU WILL HEAR A MANS VOICE
    ENTER ZIPCODE AND ### IMMEDIATELY!
    YOU WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO A REAL AGENT!!!!!!!

    I WAS NEVER ABLE TO ENTER A CLAIM IN THE SYSTEM DUE TO COMPLICATIONS AFTER GIVING BIRTH IN 2019, THE DISABILITY OFFICE NEVER CLOSED MY FILE. AFTER NOT BEING ABLE TO GET IN CONTACT WITH ANYONE SINCE MARCH, I GOT THROUGH IN JUNE TO ONLY HAVE FAKE ESCALATION FORMS SENT OUT. DO NOT WAIT FOR THEM TO CONTACT YOU. THE REAL AGENT I SPOKE TO EVEN SAID THEY WERE PRIVATELY HIRED AND CANNOT HANDLE YOUR CLAIM, THEY EMAIL THE REAL AGENTS WHICH IS WHY THEY ARE STILL BACKED UP DUE TO NO EXTRA MAN POWER. WHEN I DID THIS METHOD MAKE AURE YOU STATE THIS IS FOR A PUA CLAIM AND HAVE IT BACK DATED TO MARCH 15TH! THEY WILL PUSH/CORRECT EVERYTHING RIGHT THERE!!! THIS SAVED EVERYTHING AS I WAS ON MY LAST WITH A 1YR OLD…. PASSING ALONG BECAUSE I NEEDED A BREAKTHROUGH AND WANT YOU TO HAVE YOURS!!! BLESS EVERYONE

    Reply
    • Im still waiting too .I’m home with my children my son is doing virtual learning and no sitter because I have two smaller one with developing immune system.

      Reply
      • My original claim is from 2019 but I filled for pua in June I called and they said I was not able to be extended but I did work for my father company off the books and made enough money for a new claim but it won’t let me file one

        Reply
  28. Are you self employed? Girl I am calling now! Thank you… I called my local senators office & they were promising the same result but 2 months later Im still sitting here in the same boat…thabk you Im calling now

    Reply
    • Hello I’m in the same boat I’m self employed hair dresser and I tried to apply early kept getting error bad gateway then finally March 17th I filed I been out since March 22nd since my son school closed and they submit a form
      Then was told to wait for email it frustrating when I can’t even get any job my son is been taught virtually and I have a infant and a toddler so no one is coming to do their hair at my house it’s just overwhelming.

      Reply
      • when I filed my unemployment I never received an email telling me to go ahead and start certifying that I was approved, I was pretty proactive and checking my claim status on my own and once it changed over to filed and gave me a weekly benefit amount I knew I could start certifying , so you really should go on to the New Jersey Department of Labor’s unemployment website and check the status of your claim I’m willing to bet you may be able to certify for all the weeks going back to when you filed in March, there is no way that you applied back then and still were not approved. It’s people who didn’t file until June or July because they didn’t know they could and have no income from March that can be paid retroactively to when they became unemployed in March. If I were you I would definitely go check the website and see what your claim status is. Good luck

        Reply
        • have you been receiving your unemployment since then? I hope you have been and if you’re only problem is you’re looking to get your retroactive weeks going back to March 22nd so when you filed on May 17th then you need to contact Unemployment so they can file an escalation form on your behalf and we’re told that claims adjuster will review it at some point in the future and resolve the issue. I don’t know the process once the claims adjuster gets to it because I have been waiting for a month now for a claims adjuster to adjust my queen. the lady Tricia in the comments here gave me the phone number for the Gloucester County I just called there and they’re attempting to help me and my local Senator’s office was of no help to me in resolving this issue and I’ve had no outcome.

        • Angelina,

          I don’t know what happened to Trish’s post. I don’t see the number she gave. Could you please post again. My local Senators office has also been trying with no success. They are just as angry as I am. Thank you for correcting the person that stated you only get backdated to when you filed. You get backdated based on eligibility date as per the US Department of Labor. See cut and paste below.

          United States Department of Labor (FPUC Guidance)
          To provide assistance and assurance to those eligible, the benefit payments under FPUC may begin as soon as the week after the execution of a signed agreement between the department and states. The timeline for these payments will vary by state. As states begin providing this payment, eligible individuals will receive retroactive payments back to their date of eligibility or the signing of the state agreement, whichever came later. All states have executed agreements with the department as of March 28, 2020. The CARES Act specifies that FPUC benefit payments will end after payments for the last week of unemployment before July 31, 2020.

        • ‭(856) 384-6963‬ That’s the number I called and they send a message to unemployment n said they would let me know if they hear anything back

        • Hello frustrated! Sure it was for the Gloucester County Board of Social Services comment and the phone number is 856-384-6963. Now I just so happen to live in Gloucester County I don’t know if the woman who gave me that phone number knew that but when I called they also did not ask me where I lived so you should be okay, from previous posts I’m assuming that you live in North Jersey somewhere. My Senator’s office is very frustrated as well and pretty much devastated that they can’t help anybody that has this particular problem. It seems as though they only have the ability to correct the common certifying issues that people encounter from time to time which is a pretty easy fix apparently in comparison 2 hour problem at least. Good luck to you and I will keep you updated with my progress. I called that Workforce Development place today around 12:30 and they took down my name and phone number and told me that I will likely be hearing from another Gentleman on Monday who will collect my claim information and to inquire about my specific issue that I’m having with unemployment and hopefully I’ll be able to come to a resolve finally.

        • I FINALLY got my claim status as filed and started receiving payments the end of August. But I will read that people can get retroactive payments for the $600 from the federal since I’ve been out of work since coronavirus in March. Right now I’m just getting regular unemployment payments and none of the extra $300-$400 that the president passed at the end of July ( I think it was). If confused on what I should be entitled to. Any word on that?

        • New Jersey unemployment recipients will only receive $300 in the enhanced unemployment benefit and it’s only going to be for five or six weeks maximum in fact in fact we may not even we haven’t received it yet and we won’t be receiving it at least for a couple more weeks now from my understanding in fact we may not see that money until October. But you retroactive payments going back to when you became unemployed in March you need to call unemployment and have them fill out an escalation form and you need to call back every two weeks and have them submit a new one until somebody finally gives you your money. Unfortunately I haven’t seen anybody get the retroactive money but we are entitled to It New Jersey’s just making us fight for it I guess and good luck to you

        • Thanks for the phone number. I will call this morning and hopefully they will help. I’m actually in Mercer County now. Use to live in Morris. Interesting article below illustrating just how bad NJ severely lagging behind the rest of states in the country when distributing Unemployment Insurance. We pay some of the highest taxes in the country and NJ can’t do any better than this. NJ Labor Commissioner comes across very arrogant and full of himself during the last Murphy Covid meeting over a week ago. He is failing NJ miserably. He will follow the governor right out the door next year. No excuse. As I mentioned before, I wish we could borrow Roberta Reardon, the NYSDOL Commissioner to come help us. They are doing much better than NJ.

          https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/05/nj-failed-to-fix-unemployment-system-for-19-years-records-show-now-murphy-pleads-patience.html

          Everyone else, “Savings To Invest”, the entity that developed this forum has a very good explanation about “Retroactive Pay” and how to get it in this link. Don’t pay any attention to people who come on here and try to tell you are not entitled to retroactive pay. The State of NJ is failing us.

          https://savingtoinvest.com/retroactive-600-unemployment-fpuc-payment-delays/

      • I was self employed pre covid. Normally self employed is not entitled to unemployment in. I filed back in march. Had to be denied first for unemployment but then I recieved an email along with a letter stating I was approved for pua. I still claimed each week once the unemployment system allowed me to. I recieved every back week I filed for along with the extra 600. It took 6 weeks. From that point on I filed weekly as usual and had the 600 in my account a day before my measily 231 for pua. On pua you cannot file by phone..it has to be done online. Maybe check your spam emails.

        Reply
    • Hey Angelina,

      Just checking in with you. Did you have any luck with that 856 number in reaching someone? I did get through to someone and she was so ignorant with broken English. Absolutely clueless with a very bad attitude. She kept telling me what is Retroactive and she had no idea what that was. I gave up and ended the call. I actually did receive a call from a NJDOL worker and like many have reported, she asked me a few questions and said I will hear from someone in 2 weeks via email with instructions regarding how to get retro. I asked the rep where my name came from to figure out what triggered her phone call. All she told me was that she received a list of people who claim retroactive pay and they are calling. She was not with Unemployment Division, but worked in NJDOL and she was helping out. I will not hold my breath on this. Many have the same type of story and never hear from anyone at NJDOL. There has been some talk over on the NJDOL Twitter about a class action lawsuit. I guess we will see.

      Reply
      • I received two phone numbers to call from this comment feed and the first one was Gloucester County Workforce Development and they told me that there was no help they could circumstance and the second number nobody ever answered. I never received a call from anybody whether it was the Department of Labor or unemployment. Maybe the phone call you received was you’re several escalation forms finally being looked at by someone. I have a feeling they’re going to try to screw everybody over

        Reply
  29. Look guys, maybe this worked for a few hundred of you but thousands of New Jerseyians are getting screwed over by this 7 month dumpster fire in the NJ DOL UI department. I finally got through 3 weeks ago and I was ecstatic only to find out it was a useless subcontractor who merely created a F U type escalation report concerning my retroactive pay back to week of March 21st. It’s a LOT of money, well over 12K, and these people and this agency could care less about how dire your situation is. I got the obligatory 1 to 2 week MAX before it’s fixed or we contact you. Of course, nothing happened, nobody contacted to me. Sounds like the DO NOTHING Democrats. These people should be politicians.

    Last week I get an ACTUAL AGENT at 8am and it was a miracle. I actually cried on the phone at 45 years old because I’m getting evicted September 15th. She sees the escalation report and adds her notes has the audacity to tell me to calm down and to be patient!!! I asked are you messing me?? Are you recording me to laugh about me and the thousands of other people you owe millions too?? This agent says on September 2nd that they are backed up but I’m in the queue and it will be handled on or before Sunday, September 13th. She said the retro active pay group dealing with backpay who work on weekends. Well, it’s September 7th and NOTHING is fixed. Nothing is changed. Listen folks, we’ve been had. This isnt right, we need to band together like a union and DEMAND action?? Or would you rather just forget about $12,000-$20,000 that is rightfully yours. This people are paid to lie and string you along until you get an $8/hour job or commit suicide. It’s a disgrace. It’s incredible people get a decent salary and 3 weeks vacation to do absolutely nothing. They got theirs so F all you guys who got screwed. They DONT CARE!!!

    Good luck people but it looks bad. If I get any positive news I will forward it to you!!
    Happy Labor Day, it’s ironic because few focus have jobs right now.

    Reply
    • I hear you!!! I am owed $5,000 & desperately need it now! I will lose my home & car as well. How can they evict you I thought the CARES act stopped that for now? I apologize if I am wrong but it is very hard to keep up with all of the details surrounding this covid-19 pandemic. Our government needs to get it together as well as NJDOL. I will update you all if I get a miracle & receive my backpay! Good luck to you sir!

      Reply
    • Michael,

      I feel your pain. NJDOL claim they are doing a great job helping NJ Residents in recent propaganda press release statements. Complete lies. They were telling me back in June that they are backed up. As you said, nothing has changed. No new processes etc etc to handle this crisis. I do believe they are hoping you just give up and go away or perish. I wish Roberta Reardon, Labor Commissioner for NY would come to NJ and help us. She developed new processes and procedures to help NYS Residents with receiving backdated retroactive pay BACK IN MAY. NJ has done NOTHING of substance. NYSDOL using a technology called #Docusign to speed up backdated payments to their residents. They actually have DOL staff respond to NYS Residents on their twitter account. What does NJ have, not a dam* thing but propaganda press releases claiming they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I hope you actually did speak with a Claims Agent and not some telephone rep making empty promises of “you will receive a phone call or email” and that call or email never comes. What truly gets under my skin is that there is no follow-up, communication, status. All we hear is someone will contact you and they never do. Our governor, Murphy, is kidding himself if he thinks he will win reelection. Hundreds of thousands of NJ residents are impacted. Be sure to complain on the NJDOL Twitter website. I don’t know who the Federal Government Oversight entity who monitors states and their behavior. Perhaps the GAO or United States Department of Labor. Might be time to complain. Good Luck!!

      Reply
      • Yeah Gov Murphy is horrible with his excuses. As for the LWA payments there are only 3 states that have not paid the benefits and of course one is NJ. Murphy expects NJ residents to understand and be patience because the system is 40 years old???? Being that NJ has the 2nd highest taxes that system should have been updated 39 times?? It does seem like the system that TAKES your money is all up to date. They sure know how to take the money but give it

        Reply
        • Yes, something is not right. Almost seems like they ran out of money or keeping it for something else which legally, they can’t do. Can’t put my finger on it besides STAGGERING INCOMPETENCE and severe lack of leadership. It is Federal Money, not state money. A lot of these state systems across the country are antiquated. They seem to manage just fine. As I mentioned above, NYS managed to pivot and come up with new processes and procedures. NJ still floundering at the back of the bus. Here is the interesting thing: every da*n state in the country backdates to when you lost your job. Only knucklehead NJ use claim file date.
          Google “Weinberg, Johnson & Vainieri Huttle Introduce Bill to Ensure Residents Receive All Deserved Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Assistance” with Insider NJ publishing the article dated August 3, 2020. The bill specifically targets this issue with Retroactive Pay and the date. I don’t know what ever happened with that. The crazy thing about all this is that even with this proposed bill, state workers are still telling NJ workers that retroactive is based on file claim date, not when you lost your job. PURE Madness and sad.

  30. On the 6th of August they called me about my retroactive claim I submitted and the lady told me they need to put it on the system n it should take 1-2 weeks for me to get a email with instructions about certification for those weeks it’s now the 23 of August and no email? Anyone experienced this New Jersey

    Reply
    • How did you make a “claim?” I thought they were backdating to first day of umemployment. I cant get thru on phone!!

      Reply
      • Keep calling and they will fill out a form then they will tell you to wait for a call or email giving you instruction on what to do next but I still haven’t gotten any email .

        Reply
        • When I call it says too many customers are on hold to call back the next day. The is crazy. They emailed me saying I should receive a payment by Aug 3 its now sep 9th and still nothing. With no means of income and no help, since they so backed up hire more people. I’ll go work for them. I don’t qualify but I’m willing to learn. More hands the faster they come through for us the people that’s struggling because of this pandemic.

    • Mar,

      You and thousands of other New Jersey residents left in the dark by the NJ Dept of Labor. I can’t help but think they are intentionally doing this. I don’t know. They can’t keep this money due to it is Federal Money provided to American Citizens impacted by Pandemic; not State Funds. There is nothing on their website regarding how to apply for FPUC Retroactive Pay and how the process works. The process as I see it: You call customer service – if you get through which a majority of the time, you don’t, they take your name and number and complete a “Escalation Form” that is forwarded to a claims adjuster with promises that the Dept. of Labor will contact you. Majority of the time, they do not call or anything. If you do get lucky and they call, they lie to you with false promises of contacting you which appears to be your case currently. I had a great conversation with one of the outsourced Telephone Reps from a different state than NJ and she stated they are screwed up and wish that they would provide them authorization to approve the Retroactive Payments. After close to 7 months, they just can’t seem to pull it together. They have the capability to backdate and pay claims retroactively.

      Reply
      • I’ve been out of work since March, file my unemployment in July, I received a email that the unemployment was approved for $231 a week, but when I went to certified it only allowed me to certify for the date that the claim was approved, it would not allow me to backdate it to March, how do I receive I receive retro?

        Reply
        • Unfortunately, you don’t get back pay to when you stopped working..its back dwted to when u 1ST FILE CLAIM. says so on website. Why wait 4mos before filing? No matter..they will not ba k pay to march..only day of when u filed claim.

        • that is not true it is clearly stated in multiple Publications posted by the New Jersey Department of Labor that even if you don’t file your claim until later than when you became unemployed that your claim is payable retroactive to the date that you lost your employment due to covid-19. Also New York and Pennsylvania have a system in place to pay their residents retroactive 2 when they became unemployed despite when they are filing their claim. New Jersey is just dragging their feet with issuing the federally funded money we are all entitled to. anybody who is looking to claim retroactive weeks to when they became unemployed needs to call unemployment and have the representative file escalation form and at some point several weeks later a claims adjuster we’ll review the escalation form that request the back pay and at that point I’m not sure if they contact the person to request copies of their tax returns which prove their income and then they go ahead and backdate the claim and the money becomes available apparently a week after that from what I’m told. It’s just that it takes several weeks to get somebody to review your escalation form.

      • I hope this helps anybody last week I called +1 (856) 251-6810 this number someone suggested I called and I told them about me waiting for my retroactive since April 12 and today the guy called me to informed they respond to the email he sent them regarding my retro n the lady from unemployment responded that my claim was corrected and paid n just now at 6 am I received an email from unemployment my benefit payment was sent to my bank account n allow 2 businesses day I am so happy and I wish everyone in here also get the money they’re owe for so long good luck

        Reply
        • I’ve been trying to call that number today and nobody answers it. Do you know what agency or entity the number belongs to?

        • Hi Mar,

          Congrats!! :) Could you tell me, what date did you first file your unemployment claim and approved for PUA?

        • Mar I’ve been waiting over two weeks now for the damn email. Still nothing. How long did u wait for an email?

        • They never send me no email I waited for over a month and they just deposited the money without sending the email to certify for those weeks I guess they say wait for an email just to say it

      • Ypu meed to call unemployment & ask the representative to fill out an escalation form…but in doing so it does not mean you will see that money within the 2-4 weeks they claim the process takes…we all are still waiting for the escalation form to be reviewed….Its been about 5 weeks since mine was filed and still nothing!!!

        Reply
    • Yes that’s exactly what they said to me around the same time actually very beginning of August. She told me 1 to 2 weeks and I would hear something but that it may take up to 4 weeks. Well I’m just over four weeks now and nothing and I called unemployment again and they told me to just give it more time that they are very very backlogged. I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s just a bunch of b******* being fed to us. Regardless, good luck to you.

      Reply
      • Angelina,

        It is a bunch of bu*****. I find it irritating that at the top of this forum, there is a paragraph under the “updated LWA” that states the following:

        “However the good news, per the comments below, is that the number of new claims being processed has improved and more and more people are seeing the enhanced unemployment benefits on a more consistent basis.”

        That is flat out not true. Where are these comments? If you go to NJDOL Twitter, people are very angry complaining about the same exact thing here in this forum. NJDOL appears to be engaging in propaganda claiming they are doing a great job with these claims. Yea right!! NJ is beyond screwed up. The problem is they the NJDOL is not smart enough to figure out a workaround. I would rather they invested in Temporary Claims Adjusters instead of Temp Telephone Workers with no authority to do anything. The governor keeps stating he is trying to pressure the Whitehouse and Congress to extend FPUC $600 payments post July 25th. What good will that do if you can’t even provide the FPUC retroactive pay that is owed to NJ Residents WHO WERE ELIGIBLE PRE JULY 25TH. As far as that FEMA Payment LWA, don’t hold your breath with NJ. They will never get their act together and distribute those funds with any competency. NJ stated Oct. All other states are September except for Wisconsin which is Nov. Some states have already distributed funds like Arizona. We pay some of the highest taxes in the country and NJ can’t do any better than this. Not looking good for Murphy for reelection. Management at NJDOL can follow him right out the door. The State of New Jersey Office of Technology is the technical support arm for NJDOL. Why aren’t they doing something? Where are they? Why haven’t they figured something out like NYSDOL. New York doing very well. NJ still in the TOILET. Our tax money at work!!…sheesh…great job fellas at the NJOIT. Collect that paycheck with our tax money.

        Reply
      • Are you waiting for someone to call u and tell u to look out for an email or you’ve done that and is actually waiting for the email? Angelina

        Reply
      • They paid me my weekly retro for the 6 weeks I was owe and the following morning the 600 retro I was owe I just saw the payment in my account never received the email to certify for those weeks I was surprised but thankful I finally got it after so long

        Reply
  31. I am self employed. I filed a claim back on March 22, and was denied for UI. I never received any notice about PUA. I thought it was a loss cause . On August 15th my savings were completely exhausted and so I logged on to file an appeal to find that my status had now changed and a weekly benefit of $231 showing dated back to my claim date.

    I certified for benefits on my scheduled day August 20th for all weeks to date. I received an email that my entire retroactive PUA would be deposited early the next morning.

    My question is , will I still receive FPUC from when my claim was submitted even though the program has ended? Does it matter that I am just certifying even though my claim was filed back in March ?

    Reply
  32. I was expecting to start work around Memorial Day but couldn’t due to COVID restrictions. I didn’t file a claim until July 12th which was my own fault. I have been receiving my weekly payments but I am wondering if I am able to claim the $231 and/or $600 per week dating back to May 25th when COVID first impacted me.

    Reply
    • Here are guidelines from the United States Department of Labor that states are mandated to follow:

      “To provide assistance and assurance to those eligible, the benefit payments under FPUC may begin as soon as the week after the execution of a signed agreement between the department and states. The timeline for these payments will vary by state. As states begin providing this payment, eligible individuals will receive retroactive payments back to their date of eligibility or the signing of the state agreement, whichever came later. All states have executed agreements with the department as of March 28, 2020. The CARES Act specifies that FPUC benefit payments will end after payments for the last week of unemployment before July 31, 2020.”
      https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20200404

      Reply
  33. I’m self employed and I became unemployed in March, but I didn’t apply for unemployment until beginning of May and was a approved 3 weeks later under PUA. I received the 3 weeks of lump sum backpay to the time of when I applied. My question is, how far of a back pay are you supposed to receive. Is it limited to the time I applied as is my situation currently. Or, are you supposed to get back pay from when the aid was approved by congress and became available which I believe was around end of March/beginning of April. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Hello, You are absolutely correct with your thinking and buy act of Congress you should be able to get retro pay back to the week ending April 5 when they started to pay the extra 600 now, whether or not you’re successful by trying to reach someone to find out about your missing money that’s a whole other story? All you can do is call and keep calling until you get through to a rep . Good luck

      Reply
    • the regular weekly benefit unemployment amount can be retroactive to when you became unemployed going far back as January, I don’t understand why going back that far being that we weren’t affected until mid-march, and the extra $600 per week you should get retroactive to April 4th so what you got to do is get unemployment on the phone and tell them that they need to date your claim going back to when you became unemployed in March and they will put in a request 4 those weeks and the process from what I’m told takes 2 to 4 weeks I finally got ahold of somebody today I’m owed from March 8th till May 3rd which is 8 weeks. Good luck to you. Also a suggestion when you do call unemployment it’ll be busy most of the time and they’ll tell you to call back later but when you finally do get through their going to tell you you’ll be on hold for like 30 minutes anytime I waited on hold they would hang up on me after 20 to 30 minutes of being on hold. they also give you an option to leave your phone number and somebody will call you back, and They say you won’t lose your place in line but that’s not true they’ll call you back within 24 hours. But that is the best way to go because I left my callback number yesterday at like 3 or 4 in the afternoon and somebody called me back at approximately 4:30 today.

      Reply
        • You can’t file for retroactive. You have to speak to a claim representative or fill out the form online explaining your situation and why you believe claim to be backdated retroactively. In some instances they can confirm with the employer and just then activate the back payment. In many instances they need to confirm via phone with you because they can not confirm monetary information. Once they do then the claim can be backdated

        • No I didn’t i the weeks I was waiting to my claim I got my first payment after four weeks but didn’t get payment for the weeks I was waiting I was told you were soposed to get paid for those two but I didn’t

        • The $600 payment comes as a second payment.
          For instance I received payment for back claim on last Tuesday. It was 6 weeks I had been waiting for.
          Monday of this week (6 days later) I received 6 weeks worth of the $600.
          It is a separate payment from the weekly claim and is paid usually the following week

        • Hello I just review 8 weeks of back pay when will I receive the 600 Going March 22nd to may 17th

        • Who did you contact to get your back pay? I’ve been trying for months now. I’ve heard that the 600/week should come in within the week of your regular back pay payment of UI.

        • Hey o received my payment of 8 weeks from March to may how long do
          I wait for the 600 for those eligible weeks ?

        • No I have not. Two weeks ago I finally got a hold of somebody and they were putting in an escalation form. I was instructed to call back in 2 to 4 weeks so I called yesterday and received a return call today and was told to give it more time because the process is supposed to take two or three weeks but because they are so backed up and behind it may take longer than that so I should wait a few more weeks before checking in again. She also told me that I should receive an email letting me know when it’s approved or if they need any information from me, but as long as They don’t need anything it’ll automatically be approved and I should get notice about how to claim for those weeks. I have been in contact with my local Senators office as well for two months now and they have yet to produce any results for me concerning this but they do seem to be helping people who made a mistake and answering a question when certifying for benefits. I guess it’s this retroactive back pay situation that They really are dragging their feet to resolve. It’s very upsetting when our neighbors in New York and Pennsylvania don’t seem to be suffering these problems that we are and they have paid there claims retroactively with little to no problems. And now that New Jersey will be approved for the $300 enhanced benefit they’re going to use that as an excuse to further delay paying out what our federal government designed to have us stay afloat financially and then say that they’re even more backed up. So while every other state is paying that $300 benefit to all of their unemployed citizens We’re going to be sitting here waiting until October to see it according to Phil Murphy. I can’t survive like this any longer they need to give us that retroactive pay especially since Congress can’t get it together and come up with a bipartisan plan to help us any time soon!!! The least they can do is give us that retroactive money they’re holding up.

        • Angelina,

          Same exact situation. I don’t know why they are dragging their feet on this issue of FPUC Retroactive Back Pay. Something is not right here. I still don’t know why they need to contact you if you were already approved for PUA/FPUC. Why not issue the retroactive pay when you are first approved. It almost seems like they are intentionally making it difficult so you give up on benefits that you are legally entitled to from funds distributed via our US Dept. of Labor. What irritates me is that they have not figured out a process to handle this backlog except to continue to give you stupid excuses crying volume. The New York State Dept. of Labor is far better than NJ. Just compare their labor websites. NJ website is a complete joke. NYSDOL website is very professional. They have reps that will try to help you on their twitter site and respond directly to NY residents. Don’t waste your breath on that FEMA payment. They claim mid October. NJDOL will not deliver on that deadline. They can’t get their act together on FPUC retroactive pay; no way will they deliver on the FEMA payment. Murphy has a daily meeting streamed live on Youtube. Please voice your dissent and complaint in the comments section.

    • didnt apply for unemployment in the month of march why i dont know but i decided to apply in aug …got it can i get bck whatever i missed in march i call and no answer and now ima going back to work in sep 30hrs can i still claim

      Reply
      • There is an online form you can fill out when you file your claim. You can ask them in the form to backdate. They may just do it because they can confirm with employer. If they need further monetary information from you then they will need to call you and talk to you before backdating.
        Go here and scroll down to “to send an online message”
        https://myunemployment.nj.gov/help/contact-us/
        Also keep calling as well.

        Reply
        • Carla,
          Based on your post above, you stated that the NJDOL paid you 6 days after you filed for FPUC back claim (Tuesday) and you received retroactive payments of FPUC $600 6 days later on a (Wed). You are an enigma. As far as I know, no one on this forum has ever had that kind of result. When this happened to you, was this in the last few weeks or months ago? Did you receive some kind of confirmation email that FPUC Retroactive funds were deposited in your account?

          Anytime I ever completed that “To Send An Online Message”, they respond via email with some automated nonsense and did not address my issue. It does say “Submit a Message Through our New Online Form”. Maybe this is different and new from what I used before.

          I’m not sure why we would keep calling. The end result is contacting a Telephone Rep who would take your personal information and complete an Escalation Form to forward to a Claims Adjuster and tell you someone from the NJDOL will contact you. I’ve been waiting for months just like Angelina above and others with promises of phone calls and emails blah blah blah….all lies. That’s why I am shocked you got it in 6 days.

          Why don’t they have detailed instructions on their NJDOL website about FPUC Retroactive Back Payments like the New York State Dept. of Labor?

        • I have been equally frustrated filing my claim in April.
          My first payment was not until July. So it took 3 months just to get the first payment.
          Keep in mind I had not recieved any $600 payments and needed my claim backdated 4 weeks to March.
          When I finally got through to unemployment late July, I was told by the representative to fill out the online form explaining back payment date and was scheduled for October to verify income via W2 for continued payments. When I asked where to find the explanation on the website for back dated claim for payment I was told that the only way to get information backdated was to talk to a representative, have them confirm with my employer that they were closed and to fill out the online form. Once I did that, like everyone else, I got the generic email from unemployment. I expected nothing to happen like I had the first 3 months of waiting.
          About 4 or 5 days after speaking to the rep and filling out the online form I received the 4 weeks back payment of unemployment in my account. No email or letter in the mail.
          6 days after that I recieved the back payment 4 individual payments of $600. I received zero email or notification. I needed my claim backdated for 4 weeks. I had 4 separate individual payments from unemployment and 6 days later 4 separate individual payments of $600.
          It’s now August by this time. So it took 4 months total to catch up to where I am now.
          There isn’t a straight forward answer as to how some get one answer and some another in NJ. l simply just followed what the representative told me to do because I didn’t know what else to do. I can’t answer for NY only for what worked for me in NJ.
          Hoping everyone gets theirs resolved soon.

        • Frustrated,

          It seems that maybe because Carla has an employer she received different treatment. I think that for self employed people like me, they don’t have any intention to back date our claims prior to the date that we filed our claim. Its wrong and completely opposite of what is stated in multiple publications on the dept of labor website. I am infuriated with NJ, NY and PA self employed are not receiving this obstacle and have been backdated properly and questions and concerns regarding backdating as well as a description of the process to backdate are addressed on their websites whereas we are only informed that we are entitled to it but aside from those few mentions there is no other information given!!!!!! This is beyond despicable for NJ dept of labor to ignore that whatever system they have in place to get us our retroactive money is completely incompetent and useless in addition to ignoring our pleas to fix it!!!! When were you told that they submitted your first escalation form? Mine was 3 weeks ago….. I am told it can take several weeks to be processed and resolved but I have a feeling that its just empty promises.

    • For those of you who are confused, I cut and pasted information from NJDOL automated email response when I inquired about my FPUC retroactive back pay below. It should clear any confusion about what you are entitled to regarding PUA & FPUC. The question still remains regarding the retroactive pay for FPUC backdated to April 4th from when you first registered on NJDOL to file a claim. Why is this an issue for the NJDOL? I received retroactive for PUA (which really was nothing) rather quickly. As I have mentioned before, the NJDOL continue to cry wolf and complain that they are overwhelmed rings hollow to me. You were quick to provide retroactive for PUA, why not FPUC? I don’t know why I feel that they are intentionally withholding this money and making it difficult to claim retroactive for FPUC. It should be automatic once you are approved for PUA. Nothing on their website provides you any information about retroactive pay for FPUC. Again, they have had 6 months now going on 7 in September to come up with a new process to compensate for the increased volume.

      NJDOL Automated Email Response:
      The $600 payment authorized in the CARES act is eligible for payment starting as of week ending 4/4/2020. If you receive unemployment benefits for any weeks claimed between 4/4/2020 through 7/25/2020 (full or partial benefits) you will automatically receive the additional $600 payment. There is nothing else you need to do at this time. If you are found to be ineligible for Unemployment, but eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) you will also be eligible for the additional $600 as of week ending 4/4/2020.

      The $600 supplemental payment will come separately from your regular unemployment payment, but will be processed through the same payment method you have on file (direct deposit or debit card). Claimants who certify on Saturday will see the $600 payment deposited up to 10 days later. The $600 payments are processed on Friday nights, so if you certify during the make-up window on Saturday, the money won’t arrive until at least a full week later.

      Note: The supplemental $600 payment authorized through the CARES act can only be paid through week ending 7/25/2020. No additional supplemental payments have been authorized by the federal government at this time. If new legislation is passed further information will be posted at that time.

      This $600 payment is considered taxable income. When you file your 2020 taxes you may be charged income tax, and therefore owe taxes, on each $600 payment.

      Reply
      • I never received retroactive pay or fpuc ….. I became unemployed march 8th, filed claim may 3rd and 3 weeks later was able to claim for weeks going back to only may 3rd…..I am due 8 weeks pua and 5 weeks fpuc. But my question to you is did you receive retroactive pua prior to the date you filed your claim ? And are you self employed ? It seems as tho reg employees are getting backdated with no problems but some are having a hard time getting the fpuc 600 part backdated…… I am getting no help from senators offices liaisons either…. Its September already they can’t still be this overwhelmed like seriously!!!!

        Reply
        • Angelina,

          There really is no excuse for the NJDOL to not have their act together this late in the game. I got the impression that Carla did not have it easy. She first filed in April and did not receive any money until July if I understood her above post correctly. I filed a claim in mid June. When I filed my claim on the NJDOL website, they requested my company name and my last day of employment. Several weeks later towards the end of June, I received an email stating I was eligible for PUA & FPUC. PUA was immediate and FPUC came about 1.5 weeks later on a weekly basis only. No mention of retroactive pay for either one as I was unemployed in beginning of March. When you are eligible for PUA, you automatically qualify for FPUC. I received FPUC on a weekly basis between June 28th – July 25th. I continue to receive PUA today. I never received retroactive pay for FPUC or PUA which of course FPUC was discontinued July 25th. The problem is that the NJDOL is staggeringly incompetent. They have not figured out a new process to handle the increased workload. Their solution was to hire temporary telephone reps from different states to answer calls and take messages for Claims Adjusters which has been useless. How does that cut down on the volume of claims that need to be worked and paid? Complete asinine idea. The Dept. of Labor commissioner stated last week during Murphy’s daily Covid19 on YouTube that NJ residents had their problems resolved 50% of the time on “First Contact” when calling NJDOL. Pure nonsense. That is not true. While the Telephone Reps were nice on the phone, they were powerless to do anything except apologize and forward that Escalation Form to claims adjusters which again was useless as you never hear from the NJDOL. The State of New York Dept. of Labor is far superior and smarter than NJDOL. They actually introduced a new process back in May to help with backdating of claims to handle the increased volume. They are utilizing #DocuSign to help New Yorkers get all the backdated payments they are entitled to. If you receive an email from the NYS Department of Labor, use the secure digital signature technology to certify for back weeks to get your benefits as quickly as possible. Why can’t NJ do that? NJDOL has nothing but excuses and whining that there is to much volume. As a NJ resident, we are in the top 10 states that have a very high tax burden along with NY. You would think NJ would do a better job with all the taxes we pay. We do pay their salaries.

          In closing, I cut and paste this from the United States Department of Labor:

          To provide assistance and assurance to those eligible, the benefit payments under FPUC may begin as soon as the week after the execution of a signed agreement between the department and states. The timeline for these payments will vary by state. As states begin providing this payment, eligible individuals will receive retroactive payments back to their date of eligibility or the signing of the state agreement, whichever came later. All states have executed agreements with the department as of March 28, 2020. The CARES Act specifies that FPUC benefit payments will end after payments for the last week of unemployment before July 31, 2020.

        • I have recently exceeded my 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits as I was emigre for the 13 week federal extension. I also heard NJ is also providing an ad20 week extension.
          Does the first 13 weeks count as part of the 20 weeks or will I be eligible to collect another 20 weeks after the additional 13 weeks. Will I collect for 39 weeks or 59

  34. I didn’t know I was able to get unemployment. I filed in June and was able to collect but my last day of work was March 17. Am I able to get back NJ unemployment and Federal unemployment

    Reply
  35. I did not receive the $600 payment for any of my weeks of unemployment, 4/12 – 7/20.

    I can not reach ANYONE at unemployment. I’ve tried emailing the details, but only received a generic reply.

    How can we contact a LIVE person to find out where the payments are? Everything on the Website is useless. It tells me my weekly unemployment benefit, but nothing about the $600.
    Who can I contact? I have depleted my savings and can’t pay my bills.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • I was laid off in late April from my job of 32 years.
      I qualified for UI benefits, but because I had to start taking my pension (which is larger than UI) in January due to my age, my benefit is $0.
      I also have heard nothing about the $600 PUA benefit.
      I appealed the pension decision, which I lost, and they refused to answer my PUA request, even though it was part of my appeal.

      Reply
    • Pete,

      I feel your pain brother. If you qualified for PUA by applying directly on NJDOL, you automatically get FPUC. They will send you an email informing you that you were approved for both. If you have not received any FPUC payments up to July 25, you are entitled to receive retroactive pay between April 4th – July 25th by Federal Law!! That is good money to bridge you until you can find work – if you find it. I don’t know why NJDOL is not distributing the FPUC $600 retroactive pay in a timely manner. When you call, they will give you their tired dog and pony show that they are overwhelmed by the volume of unemployed NJ Taxpayers. The Pandemic has been going on for close to 6 months now and they haven’t figured out some kind of workaround to get money to people who desperately need it. I suspect they are intentionally doing this. There is nothing on the NJDOL that shows how to apply for FPUC or the status of the Retroactive FPUC Payments. Apply for PUA on their website and wait for their email. You will receive PUA, but it will take forever to get FPUC. Call 732-761-2021 between 9:30am – 11am. I have had good success with contacting someone. You have to constantly keep redialing until you get through. You could dial 100+ times. The problem is that when you do reach someone, it is contract telephone support, not a claims adjuster. The best they can do is offer you excuses, complete an Escalation Form which is useless, tell you someone will call you and send form to claims department. No one ever calls. It has been over a month for me. They are so screwed up there. People who read this, reach out to your news agencies and newspapers and report this. There is no excuse to do this to us. People are going under. Since there is no National Plan to combat the virus, we have no idea when things may return to normal where you can get a job. I think it is incredibly cruel for the NJDOL to tell people who may be losing everything that they are backed up and overwhelmed with no timeframe or communication when they will receive FPUC. It appears Murphy looking at a 1 term governorship. Hang Tough & Good Luck.

      Reply
      • I finally called Assemblyman John F. McKeon’s and Senator Richard Codey’s offices yesterday to tell them about my situation.
        Let’s see if they can make progress.

        Reply
        • Lawrence,
          Excellent. I had contacted my State Senator also. I hope others will contact their Senators, Congressman, State Senators all media outlets such as NJ times. Star Ledger, NYT, CNN. Something is not right. The NJDOL has the current capability to back date and pay claims in a lump sum. When you are first approved for both PUA & FPUC, you receive weekly payments of FPUC $600 & PUA $231 after your file claim date. Why not just pay the retroactive lump sum backdated to April 4th from your file claim date when you start receiving the APPROVED weekly pay for PUA & FPUC. Why the delay in retroactive FPUC pay. At this rate, if many of these elected officials don’t do anything about this, they will be unemployed in their next election cycle. Thousands of NJ residents are suffering. I chatted briefly with a few temporary telephone reps handling incoming phone calls to NJDOL. They are very nice. Many say they receive thousands of NJ residents that call crying, begging, yelling, angry to help them with funds they are entitled to after claim is approved. After all, the funds are Federal, not State funds which is basically our tax money. Like I mentioned before, they have had 6 months to figure something out.

        • I gave up calling and talking to sweet outside help telling me they are sorry and will make a report.
          I called senator office they got back immediately took a report within two weeks I got paid. Call your senator !!!

        • Kathy,

          Was that your local State Senator for your district or Cory Booker / Bob Menedez?

          I already contacted my local State Senator. One of her staff took down my specifics and sent my file over to the Benefits Section of The Department of Labor. I don’t know if that email arrived at the NJDOL with a threat of “work on this now or else.” I don’t think so. The rep from her office did say he could not give me a time frame when they would work on this.

          I hope more people chime in about their experiences. We need to help each other when the state will not.
          Thanks

        • My local senator is Cory Booker. His assistant has been working with me. He told me that they are not backdating claims yet and he will let me know when they do ‍♀️

        • Do we have to request for A backdated claim?
          I’ve been out of work since Jan. And didn’t file until June. It would be great if I could get everything backdated.

        • Michelle,

          Without knowing the full context and details of your conversation with this assistant of Cory Booker, stating that the NJDOL are not working on backdating claims and he will get back to you when he/she hears something rings hollow and lip service to me. What exactly are they waiting on. With so many NJ residents who are suffering and on the verge of losing everything, this should be a major priority for them. Menedez office seems to have better traction and more effective in getting FPUC retroactive back pay than Booker based on the comments of another forum member here. Will contact Menedez office today. I could understand being overwhelmed with volume in the first couple of months. It is going on 6 months now and they haven’t figured out a new process to handle this backlog if indeed that is the problem. No excuse for that. They should hire temp claims adjusters. They have the systems capability to issue FPUC retroactive backpay. Just do it!! We are paying their salaries.

        • It is very frustrating! I started with Menendez and they told me that due to my address they couldn’t help me :(

        • Michelle,

          Pure nonsense what they told you. I guess your address is good enough for a vote, but, not good enough to help in a crisis. I called Menedez office this morning and got a recording stating all unemployment issues are handled by the state and to contact them. Not sure what else to do. Probably call the 732-761-2021, have the Telephone Rep complete an “Escalation Form” and hope for the best that a claims adjuster will contact you for the FPUC Retroactive Pay. Keep calling until you get through. They will not be able to give you a status or any information about your claim; just submit the escalation form. Best times have been 9:30am – 11am. Program your cell phone to keep redialing if it has that feature.

          Just remember the pain they caused and what they did to you the next time you vote.

      • Question, how does the state know how far to backdate? Correct me if Im wrong, but I dont remember if there was a place on the claim asking for start/backdate?
        Does anyone have any updates on how to get backdated PUA and FPUC?

        Reply
  36. I lost my part time job due to COVID but still work full time. It’s just not enough to make ends meet! Am I eligible for the PUA?

    Reply
  37. My partial unemployment pended for three weeks in July, finally i got an email that it was reviewed and i would be receiving it for those weeks. I got this email July 25th. Will i get back paid the 600 for those weeks as well? Has this happened to anyone else and they received it?

    Reply
  38. Hello. I have been receiving unemployment since April with the additional $600. I know the last payment for the additional $600 was the week of July 26. I certify on Saturday August 1st and only received my regular unemployment. Will I receive the last $600 still even if I certify on August 1st?

    Reply
  39. I have a short question. The PUA benefits ended Saturday July 25th. However I claim every Sunday (July 26th) will I still receive my usual PUA $600 payment for that week that just passed n I claimed for even though I claim on Sunday the 26 and PUA ended Saturday the 25?
    Thank you kindly.

    Reply
    • Yes absolutely you will be able to claim on July 26 as every week you claim is for the previous week so that should not affect you receiving your last benefit check.

      Reply
    • when you claim for your benefits it doesn’t matter the date that you claim because you can’t claim for that week until that week is already passed

      Reply
  40. Need some help, i became unemployed from end of march but didn’t file to last week due to not being sure if eligible or not, turns out i was. So wanted to find out that would i still be able to get backpay for the weeks before filing, ive read online that all claims will be backdated but just wanted to get confirmation

    Reply
    • yes you will be able to receive the back payments for all those weeks going back to March the extra $600 you will get going back to April 5th. The only problem is in order to receive retroactive payments to when you became unemployed you have to speak to someone at unemployment otherwise your claim will only start on the date that you filed it so I recommend you try to start calling unemployment now or you call your local Senator’s office they have unemployment Liaisons working with them that will contact Unemployment on your behalf and resolve your issues but the process takes a lot of time I suggest you contact them and begin calling unemployment now.

      Reply
  41. I recently applied for my unemployment benefits and did perform the certification process. I’m scheduled to get my first check I believe next week. I’ve been out of work due to the pandemic since the end of March. I was not able to get through unemployment until recently as mentioned. My question is will I receive retro payments back to March 31st and is there anything else that I need to do?

    Reply
  42. Hi Guys
    Please help me I never got my $600 (FPUC) though I got my ui every week. I filed on march 29th and end on may 31st.I didn’t hear any thing about this. I tried many time on phone did,t work out. I know they are closing the FPUC on 25th july . What will happened to my payment and What should i do?

    Reply
    • I stop getting the 600 in June don’t know why and I get my weekly benefits finally got in touch with unemployment and they don’t know why no explanation and then said it will be retroactive but can’t say when smh

      Reply
  43. Am a lyft driver and its my main source of income.stopped working on march 5th and dint know i could file for pua.so on june 25th i started another job fulltime and tried to file for pua on july 1st to try and get payments retroactive march 5th,question is,am i legible for the back payments even though i applied for pua after starting new fulltime job.thanks

    Reply
    • Yes you are absolutely do the money retroactive back to March 5th I stopped working March 8th and I’m self-employed. I didn’t know about the Pua until May 3rd and I filed that day they made my claim payable from that day on and everywhere that I read says that claims are payable to the date that you became unemployed but nobody personally handled my claim EDD unemployment they are so swamped they’ve just been pushing everybody through with the minimum payable amount each week and only starting from the date they filed their clean. I think their intention is to contact each person who receives Pua and get their financial documents like tax returns to determine their benefit amount and then they verify with you the last day that you worked and when you became eligible and then make you retroactive but they are so swamped right now I have yet to hear from anybody so I contacted my local councilman’s office because they have unemployment Liaisons that they work with and they will get back to you within one day and they hand your issue over to their unemployment liaison who gets are resolved within 15 days I’m waiting to hear back from them by tomorrow will be my 15th day I really need those retroactive weeks but good luck

      Reply
      • Angelina,

        July 31, 2020 – Have you received your $600 FPUC retroactive pay as of yet? I realize they are swamped. As someone mentioned before, it is going on 6 months since this crisis. Why hasn’t the state developed a workaround regarding how to handle this workload volume? To me it seems like they are just floundering while NJ resident tax payers continue to suffer. There is nothing on the NJDOL website about determining the status of the FPUC $600 Retroactive Claim, etc etc that we have a right to receive via Federal Law. What bothers me the most is that there is no communication from NJDOL about this particular Retroactive $600 FPUC issue. We should be able to key our SS# and determine Retroactive FPUC status. That seems cruel when so many are suffering and need help.

        I wish this website would place a full time stamp date on these posts instead of just the time and day so people can see if there is any progress.

        For people who read this, can you confirm if you have received the retroactive FPUC benefits? Please put a full date/year next to your post so we can track progress. 7/31/2020

        Reply
        • I have not received my retroactive payments yet like I stated before I became unemployed on March 8th but I did not file a claim until May 3rd when I found out they extended unemployment to self employed people Which is my category. Everywhere that I read says that you are do retroactive payments to the date that you became unemployed but everybody who is self-employed or a gig worker They are automatically approving everybody but starting their claim the date of that they filed and giving them the minimum benefit amount per week and they are supposed to be following up with you determine your weekly benefit amount and to backdate you two when you became eligible. Now I filed May 3rd and have yet to receive one correspondence from them saying that I was approved and that I can start filing luckily for me I am proactive and figure it out on my own how to check my status on their website and start cleaning for my benefits if I was still waiting for some type of confirmation that I was approved and my claim is payable I would still be sitting here never certifying all these weeks because I would be waiting for that confirmation it’s sad. But I contacted my local Senator’s office are Senators Weenies and they have an unemployment liaison who helps people who are having an unemployment issue they say it takes 15 business days to get a result for you yesterday was my 15th business day and I am still waiting for them to resolve my issue which is the eight weeks of retroactive payments that I am due. I also call unemployment every day and have had no luck getting through my suggestion to you is contact senator Sweeney’s office I think I spoke to a guy named Jack I don’t remember but if you contact them they will assign your unemployment issue to their unemployment liaison person and I know people that have gotten results that way it’s just a matter of time and waiting good luck to you

        • Havnt yet recieved filed in March. When I called to speak to someone I got automated options then found that it sa e d I’ve been paid thousands of dollars that I neve revieved. This is craziness. Im losing
          everything.

        • No, i did not recieve my last 600 but I’m hoping it’s not because i certified late, I was supposed to certify on July 25 but didn’t certify for that week untill August 4th only because i didn’t know i was eligable at that time, I’m hoping it comes because my electic and cable are on the verge of being turned off, my file date was July 19 2020 today is 8/13/2020

  44. About 2 weeks ago I was approved for EUC, retroactive to 4/05. My certifications for the first 6 weeks were fine.

    On 5/19 I had started a p/t self-employed job with varying hours (and no hours for late June and July so far) so the next few will take time for them to review.

    On 6/30 I started another p/t job with choice of hours up to and including 40 – I chose 4 hours/day. (Also some days we went home early as they ran out of work).

    So for the question “did you work all hours offered” should that be “no” if I could have taken more?
    TIA

    Reply
    • For receding retroactive back to March payments, how can you make sure that they are aware of when you stopped getting a check? I didn’t file until June because I thought due to my self-employment category that I didn’t qualify. Now can’t recall if they asked me anything about going back to March. Is there a way to update your claim or double check?

      Reply
  45. I have been getting my $600 every week but 1 so far but cannot figure out how to get it back dated for weeks before I filed. I’ve been searching online for an answer.. I’m close to being homeless and need this money…. Anyone figure out how to do it?? PLEASE help!!!!!

    Reply
  46. It’s been since 6/22 the last time I got a 600 payment I claim weekly and get my unemployment payment it’s been 3 weeks of no 600 payment I email and there response is no help have been calling and no luck what is going on with the 600 payment why did it stop this is so frustrating

    Reply
    • Per NJ Twitter, the FPUC program, which provides an additional $600/week in assistance, will end on July 25. If an eligible claim is pending or awaiting review, and has completed all weekly certifications prior to July 25, they will retroactively receive their benefits and FPUC.

      Reply
      • Gerald: The confusing issue is why do Claims Adjusters have to review the claim again for retroactive payment when NJ Residents have already been approved to receive FPUC and currently receiving weekly $600 payments? At the time of your approval for PUA & FPUC, which is confirmed via an email from the NJDOL, why aren’t the FPUC Retroactive Lump Sum Payment approved at the same time? I guess you start receiving initial FPUC payments
        and receive the retroactive lump sum later? Huh? Why? If this is an issue of workload for claims adjusters, why hasn’t the State hired temporary adjusters to assist with handling the workload if it is just a matter of backdating the payment for people who have already been approved which seems to be an unnecessary step in the approval process. It appears the State has retained telephone support reps to remove the burden on claims adjusters regarding phone inquiries which is an excellent idea. I wonder if the Claims Adjusters are working overtime on weekends. I’m sure with overtime pay under these unusual circumstances. I know they are working hard. People are suffering and have no idea what is going on.

        Reply
  47. Sorry, that is not correct. You have to qualify for at least $1.00 of regular unemployment to receive the $600. If your benefit amount is showing $0, you will not receive anything. I was in the same boat and kept certifying each week to keep my claim active and I did not receive anything until I worked less hours and then my weekly wages went below the WBR.

    Reply

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