View all text of Subchapter II [§ 9021 - § 9034]
Any State which desires to do so may enter into and participate in an agreement under this section with the Secretary of Labor (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”). Any State which is a party to an agreement under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement.
Subject to subparagraph (B), an agreement under this section shall apply with respect to a State only upon a determination by the Secretary that, under the State law or other applicable rules of such State, the payment of extended compensation for which an individual is otherwise eligible must be deferred until after the payment of any pandemic emergency unemployment compensation under subsection (b) for which the individual is concurrently eligible.
In the case of an individual who is receiving extended compensation under the State law for the week that includes December 27, 2020 (without regard to the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of section 206 of the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020) or for the week that includes March 11, 2021 (without regard to the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of section 9016 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021), such individual shall not be eligible to receive pandemic emergency unemployment compensation by reason of such amendments until such individual has exhausted all rights to such extended benefits.
An agreement under this section shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with respect to a State upon a determination by the Secretary that the method governing the computation of regular compensation under the State law of that State has been modified in a manner such that the number of weeks (the maximum benefit entitlement), or the average weekly benefit amount, of regular compensation which will be payable during the period of the agreement will be less than the number of weeks, or the average weekly benefit amount, of the average weekly benefit amount of regular compensation which would otherwise have been payable during such period under the State law, as in effect on January 1, 2020.
In subparagraph (A), the term “maximum benefit entitlement” means the amount of regular unemployment compensation payable to an individual with respect to the individual’s benefit year.
Notwithstanding the requirements under subparagraph (A) and paragraph (2)(D), a State shall provide flexibility in meeting such requirements in case of individuals unable to search for work because of COVID–19, including because of illness, quarantine, or movement restriction.
Any agreement under this section shall provide that the State will establish, for each eligible individual who files an application for pandemic emergency unemployment compensation, an 1 pandemic emergency unemployment compensation account with respect to such individual’s benefit year.
The amount established in an account under subsection (a) shall be equal to 53 times the individual’s average weekly benefit amount, which includes the amount of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation under section 9023 of this title, for the benefit year.
For purposes of this subsection, an individual’s weekly benefit amount for any week is the amount of regular compensation (including dependents’ allowances) under the State law payable to such individual for such week for total unemployment plus the amount of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation under section 9023 of this title.
There shall be paid to each State that has entered into an agreement under this section an amount equal to 100 percent of the pandemic emergency unemployment compensation paid to individuals by the State pursuant to such agreement.
No payment shall be made to any State under this section in respect of any compensation to the extent the State is entitled to reimbursement in respect of such compensation under the provisions of any Federal law other than this section or chapter 85 of title 5. A State shall not be entitled to any reimbursement under such chapter 85 in respect of any compensation to the extent the State is entitled to reimbursement under this section in respect of such compensation.
Sums payable to any State by reason of such State having an agreement under this section shall be payable, either in advance or by way of reimbursement (as may be determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Secretary estimates the State will be entitled to receive under this section for each calendar month, reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary finds that the Secretary’s estimates for any prior calendar month were greater or less than the amounts which should have been paid to the State. Such estimates may be made on the basis of such statistical, sampling, or other method as may be agreed upon by the Secretary and the State agency of the State involved.
Funds in the extended unemployment compensation account (as established by section 905(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a)) of the Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by section 904(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a)) shall be used for the making of payments to States having agreements entered into under this section.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from funds not otherwise appropriated) to the extended unemployment compensation account such sums as the Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments described in subparagraph (A). There are appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, the sums referred to in the preceding sentence and such sums shall not be required to be repaid.
There are appropriated out of the employment security administration account (as established by section 901(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1101(a)) 3
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from funds not otherwise appropriated) to the employment security administration account such sums as the Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments described in subparagraph (A). There are appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, the sums referred to in the preceding sentence and such sums shall not be required to be repaid.
The Secretary shall from time to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to each State the sums payable to such State under this subsection. The Secretary of the Treasury, prior to audit or settlement by the Government Accountability Office, shall make payments to the State in accordance with such certification, by transfers from the extended unemployment compensation account (as so established) to the account of such State in the Unemployment Trust Fund (as so established).
The State agency shall recover the amount to be repaid, or any part thereof, by deductions from any pandemic emergency unemployment compensation payable to such individual under this section or from any unemployment compensation payable to such individual under any State or Federal unemployment compensation law administered by the State agency or under any other State or Federal law administered by the State agency which provides for the payment of any assistance or allowance with respect to any week of unemployment, during the 3-year period after the date such individuals received the payment of the pandemic emergency unemployment compensation to which they were not entitled, in accordance with the same procedures as apply to the recovery of overpayments of regular unemployment benefits paid by the State.
No repayment shall be required, and no deduction shall be made, until a determination has been made, notice thereof and an opportunity for a fair hearing has been given to the individual, and the determination has become final.
Any determination by a State agency under this section shall be subject to review in the same manner and to the same extent as determinations under the State unemployment compensation law, and only in that manner and to that extent.
In this section, the terms “compensation”, “regular compensation”, “extended compensation”, “benefit year”, “base period”, “State”, “State agency”, “State law”, and “week” have the respective meanings given such terms under section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note).