Pandemic emergency unemployment compensation
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(a) Federal-State agreements
(1) In general
Any State which desires to do so may enter into and participate in an agreement under this section with the Secretary of Labor (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”). Any State which is a party to an agreement under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement.
(2) Provisions of agreementAny agreement under paragraph (1) shall provide that the State agency of the State will make payments of pandemic emergency unemployment compensation to individuals who—
(A)
have exhausted all rights to regular compensation under the State law or under Federal law with respect to a benefit year (excluding any benefit year that ended before July 1, 2019);
(B)
have no rights to regular compensation with respect to a week under such law or any other State unemployment compensation law or to compensation under any other Federal law;
(C)
are not receiving compensation with respect to such week under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; and
(D)
are able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.
(3) Exhaustion of benefitsFor purposes of paragraph (2)(A), an individual shall be deemed to have exhausted such individual’s rights to regular compensation under a State law when—
(A)
no payments of regular compensation can be made under such law because such individual has received all regular compensation available to such individual based on employment or wages during such individual’s base period; or
(B)
such individual’s rights to such compensation have been terminated by reason of the expiration of the benefit year with respect to which such rights existed.
(4) Weekly benefit amount, etc.For purposes of any agreement under this section—
(A) the amount of pandemic emergency unemployment compensation which shall be payable to any individual for any week of total unemployment shall be equal to—
(i)
the amount of the regular compensation (including dependents’ allowances) payable to such individual during such individual’s benefit year under the State law for a week of total unemployment;
(ii)
the amount of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation under section 9023(b)(1)(B) of this title; and
(iii)
the amount (if any) of Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation under section 9023(b)(1)(C) of this title;
(B)
the terms and conditions of the State law which apply to claims for regular compensation and to the payment thereof (including terms and conditions relating to availability for work, active search for work, and refusal to accept work) shall apply to claims for pandemic emergency unemployment compensation and the payment thereof, except where otherwise inconsistent with the provisions of this section or with the regulations or operating instructions of the Secretary promulgated to carry out this section;
(C)
the maximum amount of pandemic emergency unemployment compensation payable to any individual for whom an [1] pandemic emergency unemployment compensation account is established under subsection (b) shall not exceed the amount established in such account for such individual; and
(D)
the allowable methods of payment under section 9023(b)(2) of this title shall apply to payments of amounts described in subparagraph (A)(ii).
(5) Coordination rules
(A) In general
Subject to subparagraph (B), an agreement under this section shall apply with respect to a State only upon a determination by the Secretary that, under the State law or other applicable rules of such State, the payment of extended compensation for which an individual is otherwise eligible must be deferred until after the payment of any pandemic emergency unemployment compensation under subsection (b) for which the individual is concurrently eligible.
(B) Special rule
In the case of an individual who is receiving extended compensation under the State law for the week that includes December 27, 2020 (without regard to the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of section 206 of the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020) or for the week that includes March 11, 2021 (without regard to the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of section 9016 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021), such individual shall not be eligible to receive pandemic emergency unemployment compensation by reason of such amendments until such individual has exhausted all rights to such extended benefits.