AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Department of Labor released its numbers for initial unemployment claims for the week ending October 24, 2020.
According to the MDOL, the numbers show about 1,800 people filed initial claims or reopened a claim. 700 of those claimants asked for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Just initial claims alone were about 1465.
This is an increase of about 131 claims from the previous two weeks.
The MDOL says that between March 15 and October 24 they have paid out over $1.6 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits.
Claims data can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/ui.html
MDOL warns that the Extended Benefit Program will likely end in mid-November. This program provides up to 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to those who have exhausted their state unemployment insurance and then federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC).
Fraud continues to be a problem for the Department. During the week ending October 24, the Department canceled 588 initial claims and 18 weekly certifications that were determined to be fraudulent.
The MDOL suggests claimants follow these guidelines to protect themselves:
- Before filing their next weekly certification, they should go to Benefits Maintenance > Payment Options to verify their current payment information and update as needed.
- Click on the link in Benefits Maintenance to verify their email address. This will generate an email with instructions on how to complete the process.
- After verifying their email, the Department recommends changing their password to one that is not being used in any other online system. They will need to verify their email account before creating a new password by hitting forgot password on the log-in page. This will also generate an email within which they will need to click on a link. Passwords should not be shared with anyone.
- Unsolicited emails about resetting passwords should be immediately deleted.
- If unemployment benefit payments for prior weeks filed appear to have been redirected to a bank account that is not theirs, they should contact the Department.
The week ending April 4, 2020, had the highest numbers with 30,889 Mainers filing for unemployment.
