New requirements for Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC)
Recipients required to attend Reemployment Eligibility and Assessment program orientations
No-shows may become ineligible for benefit payments
Job seekers collecting unemployment insurance benefits under the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program must now meet new requirements, under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Administered by the Department of Labor and Training, the EUC program currently offers RI claimants who have exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits up to four tiers of additional benefits, provided the claimants are able, available and actively seeking work.
Under the new requirements, all new entrants to the EUC program will be mandated to attend a Reemployment Eligibility and Assessment program orientation. At that time, department staff members will explain available job-seeking services, review work search requirements and evaluate continued benefit eligibility.
Orientations are slated to take place at the Providence, West Warwick and Woonsocket netWORKri one-stop career centers, as well as at the Community College of Rhode Island Lincoln and Newport campuses. Claimants required to attend an orientation will receive a letter designating an orientation location, date and time. Any claimants who do not attend their scheduled orientation will be considered out of compliance with federal regulations and will be deemed ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
Claimants who are already receiving benefits under tier one of the EUC program will also be mandated to attend an orientation when they transition from tier one to tier two.
In Rhode Island, orientations for EUC recipients will begin the week of April 9 and will continue through December, when the EUC program is scheduled to conclude. The Department of Labor and Training anticipates that 400 to 450 EUC claimants will attend these orientations each week.