HARTFORD, Conn. — Once you apply for the first step on the website through the blue button, you will get a denial letter saying you are ineligible for state benefits in the mail.
That is when you will be able to apply for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance fund by pressing the red button on the DOL website.
The minimum benefit amount is $198. Added to the payment will be dependencies and the $600 federal plus up benefits.
We asked a question to the Department of Labor about your frustrations in relying on deadlines they are setting and not meeting-- like if you emailed them and expected a reply in 3-5 business days. Or your expectations on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance being available mid-week and then money starting to go into your accounts by the end of this week.
Both Commissioner Westby and Deputy Commissioner Dante Bartolomeo responded.
“The message is we're trying as hard as we can,” says Commissioner Kurt Westby. “We had to build up a system from scratch to deliver these benefits. Our thoughts of the people who are deserving of a benefit are with us everyday, which is why we are working morning, noon, and night to get this program out. We did get it up mid-week, but you're right it's never fast enough.”
“FOX61 as you know, you all have been fantastic about sending us individual situations, 30-35 a day, so you are helping us to hear from those constituents that are having challenges while we have limited access due to the pandemic,” says Deputy Commissioner Bartolomeo. “So, we appreciate that. We did meet the goal of mid-week because as of Thursday at 10am the red button was up, which is by all definitions mid-week, so we're really excited about that.”
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