$300 jobless boost available in Washington later in September

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Those unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic will start receiving an additional $300 in unemployment benefits later this month.

The Employment Security Department announced Tuesday the payments would be processed starting Sept. 21, and that eligible claimants should receive the money within a few days.

Payments will be retroactive to Aug. 1 and will be on top of the regular weekly unemployment benefit. Not everyone who has filed a claim will be eligible for the extra funding, and ESD has said that the benefit is currently time-limited to those filing claims over a three-week period, between July 26 and Aug. 15.

In order to qualify for the weekly bonus, people must certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19.

Washington’s application for the short-term federal program was approved last week.

The program came about through an executive order by President Donald Trump after a federally funded $600 boost to weekly state unemployment benefits ended at the end of July.