This week unemployed Michigan workers who have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits this year will start receiving instructions for claiming the new federal jobless benefit extension.

UIA Director Stephen Geskey said, “The Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) will send letters to some 70,000-80,000 jobless workers who may be eligible for additional federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC).  It will explain what steps they need to take in order to claim these new benefits.”

“We fully expect that these unemployed workers will be able to start contacting our MARVIN system either by phone or online during Thanksgiving week to certify about their eligibility for these federal benefits,” he said. “Individuals must contact MARVIN on their regular appointment time and day during the week of November 22.”

Since he anticipates the volume of calls to MARVIN will surge from Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, Geskey reminded that MARVIN is also available by telephone (866-638-3993) and online (www.michigan.gov/uia) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on most Saturdays, even during holidays.

“We fully anticipate that payments will be issued days after the first MARVIN contact,” Geskey stated, “but for those individuals, some will receive a single full week payment and some will receive less than a full week’s payment. The payment will cover only the additional EUC Tier II.

“After their next MARVIN contact in December, workers will be issued three weeks of payments, covering the first three weeks of EUC Tier III, which is part of the new extension,” he explained.

The new EUC extension comes in three parts – Tier II provides up to one full week of federal benefits; Tier III provides up to 13 weeks of federal benefits; and Tier IV provides up to six weeks of federal benefits in high unemployment states, such as Michigan.

Geskey cautioned, however, that all four tiers of the EUC program are due to expire on December 31, 2009. Individuals collecting EUC benefits on December 31 will be able to collect the remaining benefits they are entitled, but they will be unable to move into the next EUC tier.

“Consequently, few unemployed workers in Michigan will actually collect EUC Tier IV benefits,” he pointed out, “as most will not exhaust their Tier III benefits before December 31.”

Individuals claiming unemployment benefits are required to certify with UIA’s MARVIN (Michigan’s Automated Response Voice Interactive Network) system every other week in order to receive their biweekly unemployment benefit payment. Through MARVIN, workers confirm that they are unemployed and meet the program’s eligibility requirements. They also report any earnings they may have received.

For more information about DELEG, please visit www.michigan.gov/deleg.

Source:  News release from Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG)