The Employment Development Department is reminding Californians that most federal extended unemployment programs expire on Sept. 4.

Additionally, the Federal-State Extended Duration (FED-ED) extension ends Sept. 11.

FED-ED Benefits Ending

Federal-State Extended Duration (FED-ED) benefits will no longer be payable after September 11. The federal government does not allow benefit payments to be made for weeks of unemployment after this program ends, even if you have a balance left on your claim.

According to the EDD, Sept. 4 at 11:59 p.m. is the expiration for most federal unemployment benefits including:

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
Pandemic Additional Compensation (PAC) (also known as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) supplement)
Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC)

Federal rules allow those who still have FED-ED weeks available to continue receiving benefits as late as 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2021.

Similarly, if a person’s PEUC benefits end Sept. 4 – and that person has not already had a FED-ED extension and now qualifies for one – EDD will transfer them to FED-ED until Sept. 11.

FED-ED Extension

The FED-ED extension is available for eligible weeks of unemployment between May 10, 2020, and September 11, 2021. Any certification weeks that are pending payment will be processed after September 11 if you are found eligible and did not receive conditional payments. You will be notified about what to expect.

Beginning August 8, 2021, the FED-ED extension provides up to 13 weeks of additional benefits for people who used all of their unemployment benefits during a period of high unemployment. Before August 8, the FED-ED extension provided up to 20 weeks of benefits since July 2020. If your FED-ED extension was filed before August 8, and you have already collected at least 13 weeks of benefits, your FED-ED extension ended August 7, even if you have a balance left on your claim.

Your claim balance shows the maximum amount that can be collected on your claim or extension. It is not necessarily the full amount that you will collect on your claim. If you have an active claim and do not certify for certain weeks, you could be disqualified for those weeks and still have a balance on your claim. Also, if you are eligible for reduced weekly benefits, there will be a balance left when your claim ends.

Eligibility

You may be eligible for FED-ED benefits if you are unemployed and you:

Have a regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) claim that started on or after May 19, 2019.
Used all benefits on your UI claim and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation extension, or your claim has expired.
Do not qualify for a new UI claim in California or any other state.
Meet UI eligibility requirements and are not disqualified.
Made enough earnings in the base period of your regular UI claim.

FED-ED extensions are only available for regular UI claims.

Base Period Earnings

To be eligible for FED-ED, you must have enough earnings in the base period of your regular UI claim. Your total base period earnings must be more than either of these:

40 times the weekly benefit amount.
1.5 times the earnings in the highest quarter of the base period of your regular UI claim.

For example, you earned $11,800 in the first quarter of the base period and $2,000 each in the second, third, and fourth quarters. The total base period earnings for this claim are $17,800 and a weekly benefit amount of $450. To calculate both options:

Weekly benefit amount: $450 x 40 = $18,000
Highest quarter earnings: $11,800 x 1.5 = $17,700

This claim qualifies for FED-ED extension because your total base period earnings ($17,800) are more than the highest quarter earnings ($17,700).

For more information about the base period and benefit calculations for regular UI claims, refer to How Unemployment Insurance Benefits Are Computed (PDF).

How to Get FED-ED

We are identifying those who have collected all of their Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) extension benefits. If you are eligible, we will automatically file your FED-ED extension after you collect all PEUC benefits. There is no one-week unpaid waiting period for a FED-ED extension.

After we file your extension, we will mail you a Notice of Determination for Federal-State Extended Duration Benefits (FED-ED Extension) (DE 6330FED-E) within 5-7 days. This notice will include the effective date of the extension, eligibility requirements, and your potential benefit amounts. You will then need to complete the usual bi-weekly certifications to determine eligibility for ongoing payments.

If You’re Not Eligible

If we review your claim and you are not eligible for FED-ED, we will mail you a Notice of Determination for Federal-State Extended Duration Benefits (FED-ED Extension) (DE 6330FED-D) within 5-7 days. This notice will explain why you are not eligible and will include information on how to appeal if you do not agree with the determination.

But, if you are not eligible for FED-ED, we will open a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claim for you or reopen your claim if you already had a PUA claim in the past. We will send you a notice of Immediate Action Required – Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Self-Certification (DE 4365PUA). You must verify that you meet PUA eligibility requirements, including that you became unemployed, partially unemployed or unable or unavailable to work due to one of the federally recognized COVID-19 reasons. If you do not complete and return the form within 10 days, your PUA benefits may be delayed or denied.

Note: PUA benefits are only available through September 4, 2021.

Benefit Payments

Payments will be the same as the weekly benefit amount from your regular UI claim. You will be paid in the same way that you were paid for your UI claim. The maximum benefit amount depends on your last regular UI claim. Your maximum benefit amount will be the lesser of either:

50% of the maximum benefit amount of your UI claim.
13 times the weekly benefit amount.

For example, you received a weekly benefit amount of $400 and a maximum benefit amount of $8,800 in your last regular UI claim and you have collected all of the maximum benefit amount. To calculate the FED-ED maximum benefit amount:

Calculation 1: 50% of $8,800 = $4,400
Calculation 2: 13 X $400 = $5,200

Your FED-ED maximum benefit amount will be $4,400 because Calculation 1 is the lesser of the two.

As part of federal assistance, if you are paid FED-ED extension benefits for weeks between May 10 and July 25, 2020, the EDD will pay an additional $600 in federal unemployment compensation on top of your current weekly benefit amount. If you are paid FED-ED extension benefits for weeks between December 27, 2020, and September 4, 2021, the EDD will pay an additional $300 in federal unemployment compensation on top of your current weekly benefit amount.

We will automatically add the federal unemployment compensation to each week of benefits that you are eligible to receive.

Certification

After your extension is filed, you will need to certify for benefit payments. Certifying is answering basic questions every two weeks that tells us you’re still unemployed and eligible to continue receiving payments.

The fastest way to certify for benefits is in UI Online^SM. You can also certify by mail. Unlike regular UI claims, you will not be able to certify for the FED-ED extension using EDD Tele-Cert^SM.