The Department of Labor has received inquiries from some PUA claimants reporting they are unable to file a weekly claim for the benefit week ending September 4, 2021, and that an error box is being displayed stating “You have already submitted the maximum number of weeks (75) for PUA.” There are two reasons the Department has identified as to why a claimant may be seeing this message. Claimants should check their email for information about what group they fall into.
Below are copies of the message sent to each population of claimants as a reference. If claimants did not receive an email and are getting this error message, they should call the Claimant Assistance Center at 877-214-3332 and an agent can verify the reason why they are not able to file.
Email sent to claimants who are unable to file for the benefit week ending September 4 because they have exhausted the total weeks available (75 weeks) to file in PUA:
If you are attempting to file your final PUA claim and are receiving a message that says “You have already submitted the maximum number of weeks (75) for PUA” it is because you have already filed and been paid for the maximum number of weeks available in the PUA program. The current maximum number of weeks available is 75.
Because of a system issue, in calendar year 2020 you received an extra weekly PUA payment. Due to this issue, you received a total of 40 weekly payments in calendar year 2020, one payment more than the allowable 39 weeks.
When the PUA program was extended, you were able to continue to file without having to miss out on a week of benefits to offset the extra payment you received.
However, because of this extra weekly payment, the claim you filed last week, for the benefit week ending August 28, was for the maximum number of weeks you could file for (75 weeks). You are not eligible to file for the week ending September 4th, 2021, because your benefits have been exhausted.
Email sent to claimants who are unable to file for benefit week ending September 4 because of a system issue but will be able to file:
You are receiving this email because you have been identified as someone filing in the PUA system.
We have identified an error with your final PUA weekly claim. When you log in to file your claim, you may be receiving a message stating that “You have already submitted the maximum number of weeks for PUA.”
We are working to resolve this issue and will let you know as soon as the issue is resolved so you can file your claim.