Tamara Chuang
The Colorado Sun
It will take two to four weeks for the state to begin distributing new federal unemployment benefits, though it “may be a little sooner” because the state is upgrading its outdated computer system this week, Joe Barela, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Labor and employment, said in a surprise visit during a call with reporters on Tuesday.
The programs will roll out in phases, Barela said. “Most likely, the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which is the additional $300 a week, will be the first program we roll out once we have that programmed and ready to go.”
It will take two to four weeks for the state to begin distributing new federal unemployment benefits, though it “may be a little sooner” because the state is upgrading its outdated computer system this week, Joe Barela, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Labor and employment, said in a surprise visit during a call with reporters on Tuesday.
The programs will roll out in phases, Barela said. “Most likely, the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which is the additional $300 a week, will be the first program we roll out once we have that programmed and ready to go.”
That’s a relief to a half-million Coloradans who are in the state’s unemployment system. Many saw their benefits end on the day after Christmas, when the CARES Act expired and stopped paying federal benefits to self-employed and gig workers and to tens of thousands of Coloradans who had used up their regular state unemployment benefits.