SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) The Illinois Department of Employment Security is asking for millions more dollars in its budget after an unprecedented year.
Wednesday marks one year since IDES closed its offices across the state. What followed was a chaotic scramble to handle a historic surge in applications for unemployment benefits. Now, the agency is asking for millions as it seeks to re-open. For fiscal year 2022, the department is requesting $450.4 million all-funds appropriation including a $133.9 million increase in federal funds spending authority over the current fiscal year, said IDES Acting Director Kristin Richards at today s Senate Budget hearing.
Her agency is one of the very few approved by Governor JB Pritzker to ask for money.
CHICAGO (WLS) A year after the pandemic, there s a new problem in Illinois embattled unemployment system: extended benefits. Some people are having trouble getting renewed.
With no work prospects during the pandemic, initial benefits for some people have stopped. They say they can t get through to unemployment, so they reached out to the ABC7 I-Team for help. I haven t had benefits, going on three months now, says Alexander Flores, who worked at McCormick Place.
Due to the coronavirus, conventions started canceling in early March. Soon after, it shut down completely. Flores received unemployment benefits until November. He has been trying to re-apply ever since.
Some filing for Illinois unemployment extended benefits report having trouble getting through to IDES, and so their payments have stopped while they're unable to find work.
Illinois Unemployment: PUA overpayments may be forgiven; IDES to issue waivers
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CHICAGO (WLS) The ABC 7 I-Team investigated overpayments of unemployment benefits involving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). People who are unemployed are being told to come up with amounts ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 - sometimes, more than $20,000.
PUA was added to regular state unemployment to get money into the hands of contract and gig workers. But what if you are being told you were overpaid? There s good news: you may be forgiven. I m going to be on the street, probably, March 1 if this is not taken care of, says Michael Sabo who drove business travelers to and from the airport in his Lincoln Town Car prior to the pandemic. Now he s out of work and on PUA through the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).
WASHINGTON (WLS) Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Congressional Representative Bill Foster introduced legislation to provide tax relief for anyone who used unemployment benefits last year.
Called the Coronavirus Unemployment Benefits Tax Relief Act, the bill would waive federal income taxes on the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits collected in 2020. That relief is applicable for workers who received benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, as well as anyone who received traditional unemployment benefits through their state unemployment insurance fund.
The CARES Act, passed in March 2020, provided an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits through the end of July. The relief provided in the bill would cover 17 weeks of that enhanced benefit.