UIPL_15-20_Change_1.pdf

ETA Advisory File Text

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION ADVISORY SYSTEM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Washington D.C. 20210 CLASSIFICATION UI CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL DUIO DATE May 9 2020 ADVISORY UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 15-20 Change 1 TO FROM SUBJECT STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES JOHN PALLASCH Assistant Secretary Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security CARES Act of 2020 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation FPUC Program Reporting Instructions and Questions and Answers 1.Purpose. As states have gained experience administering the FPUC program under the CARES Act they have identified questions about aspects of the program s operation. The purpose of this UIPL is to address those questions and provide further guidance about the FPUC program authorized by Section 2104 of the CARES Act Public Law Pub. L. 116J13SI and provide instructions for completing Form ETA 9178JP Quarterly Narrative Progress Report Employment and Training Supplemental Budget Request Activities. 2.Action Requested. The U.S. Department of Labor s Department Employment and Training Administration ETA requests that state administrators provide the information contained in this Unemployment Insurance Program Letter UIPL and its attachment to appropriate staff. 3.Summary and Background. a.Summary On March 27 2020 the President signed into law the CARES Act which includes the Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act set out in Title II Subtitle A. Section 2104 of the CARES Act creates a new temporary federal program called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation EFPUCFI which provides an eligible individual with 600 per week in addition to the weekly benefit amount he or she receives from designated unemployment compensation EUCF programsI provided he or she is otherwise eligible. b.Background The CARES Act was designed to mitigate the economic effects of the COVIDJ 19 pandemic in a variety of ways. The coordination of programs within the CARES Act is discussed in UIPL No. 14J20. On April 4 2020 the Department issued UIPL No. 15J20I which focuses on Section 2104 of the CARES Act authorizing the temporary FPUC program. FPUC provides eligible individuals 600 per week in addition to the weekly benefit amount they receive from the UC programs noted in Section 2104. RESCISSIONS None EXPIRATION DATE Continuing 2 4. Questions and Answers . The Department hosted a webinar with states on April 9 2020 to discuss UIPL No. 1 5-20 which contained key provisions and operating instructions for the FPUC program . A recording of this webinar is available under the Events section on the Unemployment Insurance Community of Practice on the WorkforceGPS website https ui.workforcegps.org . The Attachment to this UIPL conta ins answers to certain questions received during the webinar and through the Department s designated e -mail address on all COVID -19 related inquiries covid -19 dol.gov . Additionally the Department is revising form ETA 227 OMB 1205 -0173 which is the form states must use to report FPUC overpayments. More information about this can be found in Attachment I of UIPL No. 15 -20 Section H. Reporting Instructions. 5. Supplemental Budget Request Project Status Tracking . ETA will use form ETA 9178 -P as a monitoring instrument to track a grantee s progress toward s completing project activities for implementation of the FPUC program which are fund ed under the supplemental budget request s. Instructions for submitting supplemental budget requests are located in section 4 c of UIPL No. 1 5-20. As part of the monitoring process grantees that receive supplemental grant awards must submit a Quarterl y Progress Report QPR using the form ETA 9178 -P. The form ETA 9178 -P requires the grantee to provide ETA with narrative updates on supplemental grant activities and help s ensure that the grantee achieve s the goals described in the supplemental grant application s. States that received supplemental grant awards to implement the FPUC program will need to submit report s as instructed. Attachments II and III in UIPL No. 16 -20 Change 1 provide the ETA 9178 -P report the instructions for completin g the report and the timeline for the submission of the report. 6. Inquiries . States should direct inquiries to covid -19 dol.gov and copy the appropriate Regional Office. 7. References . Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security CARES Act Pub. L. 116 -136 including Title II Subtitle A Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act 5 U.S.C. Chapter 85 Federal -State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 26 U.S.C. 3304 note Trade Act of 1974 19 U.S.C. 2291 et seq. Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Act 42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq. Section s 3304 and 3306 v of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act FUTA 26 U.S.C. 3304 and 3306 v Section 303 of the Social Security Act 42 U.S.C. 503 20 C.F.R. Part 603 ET Handbook No. 336 18 th Edition Unemployment Insurance State Quality Service Plan Planning and Reporting Guidelines https wdr.doleta.gov directives attach ETAHandbook ET Handbook No.336 18th Editio n Change 4 acc.pdf 3 ET Handbook No. 384 Unemployment Compensation for Ex -servicemembers https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr doc.cfm DOCN 465 ET Handbook No. 391 UCFE Handbook for State Agencies https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr d oc.cfm DOCN 2233 ET Handbook No. 401 UI Report Handbook https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr doc.cfm DOCN 7774 UIPL No. 05 -13 Work Search and Overpayment Offset Provisions Added to Permanent Federal Unemployment Compensation Law by Title II Subtitle A of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 issued January 10 2013 https wdr.dole ta.gov directives corr doc.cfm DOCN 3698 UIPL No. 14 -20 Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security CARES Act of 2020 Summary of Key Unemployment Insurance UI Provisions and Temporary Emergency State Staffing Flexibility issued on April 2 2020 https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr doc.cfm DOCN 3390 UIPL No. 15 -20 Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security CARES Act of 2020 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation FPUC Program Operating Financial and Reporting Instructions issued on April 4 2020 https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr doc.cfm docn 9297 and UIPL No. 16 -20 Ch ange 1 Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security CARES Act of 2020 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance PUA Program Reporting Instructions and Questions and Answers issued on April 27 2020 https wdr.doleta.gov directives corr doc.cfm DOCN 5899 . 8. Attachment . Questions and Answers Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation FPUC Program I-1 Attachment to UIPL No. 15 -20 Change 1 Questions and Answers Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation FPUC Program A. Issuing Payments 1. Question Is the state required to make FPUC payments weekly Answer The s tate must make FPUC payments on the same schedule as the state s regular UC payments. If the s tate pay s regular UC on a bi-weekly basis it can maintain that same sc hedule for FPUC . 2. Question If an individual s UC benefits are reduced to zero because of a benefit offset is the individual eligible for FPUC for the week Answer Yes. Benefit offsets are considered payments as the payment is still being made to the individual but part of the payment is offset and used to repay the previous overpayment. Therefore the individual is deemed to have received UC for the week and is eligible to receive FPUC for the week. The FPUC payme nts must also be reduced to recover state and federal UC overpayments refer to questions B2 and B3 below . 3. Question If an individual is ineligible to receive his her weekly benefit amount WBA for a particular week for example because of a disqualifi cation or deductible income is the individual eligible for the FPUC payment Answer No. The individual must be eligible to receive at least one dollar 1 of underlying benefits for the claimed week to be eligible to receive the FPUC payment for that week . 4. Question Is an individual who is working part -time or ha s gone back to work part -time and is collecting partial UC benefits for a week eligible for FPUC Answer Yes. An i ndividual working part -time who otherwise meet s state eligib ility requirements for the underlying benefit is eligible to receive the FPUC payment . 5. Question Does the additional FPUC payment affect how much a person could earn while working part time before a deduction is made from the weekly underlying benefit payment Answer No. All earnings are deducted from the underlying UC benefit payment . If an individual s earnings reduce the week s underlying benefit payment to zero the individual would not be eligible for FPUC for that week. I-2 6. Question Are FPUC b enefits subject to federal income tax withholding Answer Yes. Both the underlying benefit payment and the FPUC benefit payment are subject to federal income tax withholding. Individuals may elect to have federal withholding deducted from their FPUC payments separately from the withholding for the underlying benefit payments . 7. Question Is the state required to notify individuals when they receive a final FPUC payment Answer If the state law requires notification of the final UC payment then states must notify an individual when the individual is receiving the final FPUC payment in the same manner as the state noti fies individuals receiving the final UC payment . B. Overpayments and Recovery 1. Question When is an FPUC payment considered to be overpaid Answer An FPUC payment is an overpayment any time an individual receives an FPUC payment for which the individual was not eligible. For example i f an individual is paid FPUC and the underlying UC benefit payment is subsequently denied and determined to be overpaid then the FPUC payment is also overpaid. However if an individual is eligible receive at least one do llar 1 of underlying benefits for the claimed week the individual is eligible to receive the FPUC payment for that week. 2. Question Must FPUC payments be used to offset intrastate state or federal UC overpayments Answer Yes. FPUC payments must be reduced to recover state and federal UC overpayments i f the state has a cross -program offset agreement in place with the Secretary under Section 303 g 2 SSA 42 U.S.C. 503 g 2 . However a state may not offset more than 50 percent from the FPUC pa yment to recover overpayments for these unemployment benefit programs. 3. Question Must FPUC payments be offset to recover UC overpayments for other states Answer Yes. FPUC payments must be reduced to recover UC overpayments for other states if the s tate has signed the Interstate Reciprocal Overpayment Recovery Arrangement IRORA agreement. However a state may not offset more than 50 percent from the FPUC payment to recover overpayments for other states . 4. Question Must the state offset both the underlying benefit payment and the FPUC payment to recover state or federal UC overpayments Answer Yes. Even though a state may pay both benefits at the same time t he FPUC payment is considered a separate benefit from the under lying benefit payment . Therefore it is also subject to offsets of no more than 50 percent to repay overpayments. I-3 5. Question Does the state have to offset the same percentage from the underlying benefits payment as the FPUC payment For example may the state reduce its offset to 25 percent for the underlying benefit and still offset the 50 percent from FPUC Answer As mentioned before the FPUC payment is a separate benefit and is also separately subject to offsets to repay overpayments. Therefore a state can offset the underlying benefit payment based on its own law and then offset the FPUC benefit separately . This means a state can reduce its offset to 25 percent for the underlying benefit and still offset the 50 percent from FPUC. Wh ile states may not offset more than 50 percent of the FPUC a state can choose to offset less than 50 percent from FPUC. 6. Question May the state suspend benefit offsets to provide relief to unemployed individuals Answer No . The state may not suspend benefit offsets. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 changed the benefit offset provision from may to shall under both Section 3304 a 4 D FUTA and Section 303 g 1 SSA so federal UI law requires states to offse t benefits . 7. Question May the state apply its own sta te law waiver provisions to FPUC overpayments Answer Section 2104 f 2 of the CARES Act permits the state to waive the repayment if the state determines that the payment of FPUC was without fault on the part of the individual and such repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. If the state law minimum requirements for the waiver of overpayment s already require that these conditions be met then the state can use i ts own provisions for waiver. The s tate is reminded that waiver determinations must be made on the facts and circumstance of each individual claim blanket waivers are not permissible. For example states cannot waive overpayment due to administrative error for a group of individuals before first assessing and documenting why each individual meets the state s waiver requirements. Additionally the state does not have to waive the FPUC overpayment if its law prohibits the waiver of overpayments . Failure to establish an individual s eligibility for the regular UI programs and the Extended Benefit progr am is a conformity and substantial compliance issue and failure to establish eligibility for PUA or PEUC is contrary to the state s agreement to administer the program and could result in termination of the agreement. States may not waive overpayments und er the CARES Act if the state has not properly established on an individual basis that the statutory requirements for such waiver have been met. 8. Question How should s tates handle prosecutions of FPUC fraud overpayments Answer Individuals who frau dulently obtain FPUC benefits are subject to prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001 among other federal criminal statutes . States must pursue FPUC fraud cases in the same manner as all other f ederal UC fraud cases. For referrals of fraud cases to the U.S. Department of Labor s Office of Inspector General OIG states should follow the guidance provided in UIPL No. 29 -05. I-4 C. Financial Information and Reporting 1. Question Will FPUC benefit disbursements need to be repo rted on a program specific basis Answer Yes. Due to the magnitude of the FPUC program there will be significant interest in how the FPUC benefits were spent. As such the s tate must report program specific FPUC disbursements in the comments section of the ETA 2112 report as follows UI UCFE UCX PEUC EB PUA Other . The total must reconcile to amounts reported on line 42b column F. 2. Question Will the funding for FPUC be included in the regu lar administration grant Answer No. The grant awards to states for programs under the CARES Act will be issued under a separate grant. 3. Question Will states need to provide quarterly status reporting regarding supplemental budget requests SBRs received for FPUC implementation Answer Yes. States must submit an ETA 9178 -P form for SBRs received to cover administrative costs for FPUC implementation See the third paragraph of Section 4 c of UIPL No. 15 -20 . ETA has created t he ETA 9178 -P r eport for SBR status reporting specifically for programs under the CARES Act. Grantees must submit form ETA 9178 -P to their respective Federal Project Officer FPO within 45 days of each calendar quarter end date . If the due date of the report falls on a Saturday Sunday or holiday the report is due the previous business day. The table below provides the due dates for each reporting quarter Attachments II and III in UIPL No. 16 -20 Change 1 provide the ETA 9178 -P report the instructions for completing the report and the timeline for the submission of the report. Reporting Quarters Due Dates January 1 st March 31 st May 15 th April 1 st June 30 th August 14 th July 1 ST September 30 th November 14 th October 1 st December 31 st February 14 th