We were notified that Washington State Employment Security has been approved to pay out Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) benefits of $300 a week for a specific period of time. If you are already receiving benefits via a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Claim, no action is required to receive these LWA benefits.

If you are receiving benefits from a regular unemployment claim, you will need to answer the eligibility question. You will receive an email from eServices (otherwise you will receive it via postal mail) and see a link in your account requesting you answer an eligibility question. Click the link to answer one question to certify that you were unemployed or working fewer hours due to COVID-19. You will want to answer YES, since Boeing layoffs are driven by the downturn in the airline industry due to COVID-19 which in turn prompted workforce reductions at Boeing. You must answer this question by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20^th to receive your payment the week of Sept. 21.

If you are approved for LWA, ESD will start processing retroactive LWA payments on Sept. 21 for claims ending Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15, Aug. 22, Aug. 29 and Sept. 5. Currently these are the only weeks LWA funding has been approved.

Below is a Q&A from the ESD website on delayed claims, which we received several calls on today.

Q: I just answered the LWA eligibility question and now my weekly benefit payment is delayed. Why?

A: Answering the eligibility question did not delay your payment. Weekly claim payment processing has been delayed by 2-3 days during the week of Sept. 7 due to the Labor Day holiday. The delay also is due to slower than normal processing following the LWA launch. Customers who submitted weekly claims on Sunday and Monday, Sept. 5 and 6, should start seeing payments in their accounts in the next day or two. We apologize for the delay and frustration this may cause.

For more information, visit ESD’s page on LWA at https://esd.wa.gov/unemployment/lwa

751 Communications