Skip to Content
Logo
Menu
  • About Our Firm
  • Practice Areas
  • Our People
  • Learning Library
  • Corporate Transparency Act
  • Contact
  • Make A Payment

New Guidance from the Federal Government on Unemployment Benefits – $600 Payment

New Guidance from the Federal Government on Unemployment Benefits – $600 Payment

April 8, 2020

Many of our clients have been faced with the Hobson’s choice of furloughs, layoffs, or shutting down. When making these painful decisions, clients want to know what new unemployment benefits might be available to their workforce. This past weekend the Department of Labor issued guidance in two different letters. We will discuss the first letter today. We will discuss the second letter this Friday.

Guidance on the Additional $600 Per Week

The DOL issued guidance on Saturday, April 4th through Letter No. 15-20 on the Section 2104 of the CARES Act which authorizes eligible individuals to receive $600 per week in addition to the weekly benefit amount they would ordinarily receive. The $600 payments are sometimes referred to as the FPUC program which stands for Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program. The costs of these additional $600 payments is 100% federally funded. States may not charge employers for any FPUC funds.

Who is Eligible for the $600 FPUC Payments?

FPUC is payable to individuals who are otherwise entitled under state or federal law to receive regular unemployment for weeks of unemployment. FPUC will not be available if Illinois extends the potential duration of unemployment benefits as it did under the Great Recession.

How Long is the $600 FPUC Available?

These benefits begin immediately but they will not continue beyond July 31, 2020.

Can States Use the $600 FPUC Payment to Reduce Their Other Payable Unemployment Benefits?

No.

How Will $600 FPUC Payments Affect an Employee’s Eligibility for Medicaid or Illinois’ Children’s Health Insurance Program?

It won’t. $600 FPUC Payments will not be counted as income for purposes of eligibility for Medicaid or any state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.

How Will Employees Total Unemployment Insurance Payments Be Calculated?

First, Illinois will calculate the weekly benefit amount that it would ordinarily pay an unemployed worker, and then, if the individual is eligible to receive at least one dollar ($1) of underlying benefits, they shall receive the full $600 FPUC. Child support obligations must be deducted from the $600 FPUC and the amount is fully taxable.

Employer Takeaway

It is important to note that there are scenarios where an employer could reduce an employee’s hours, but they would still be making more money than the weekly benefit amount they might receive on unemployment. Under this scenario, an employee would be entitled to $0 unemployment and $0 FPUC.

Perversely, the employee might be better off laid off than working reduced hours. Under such a scenario, an employee might actually ask to be laid off. This is not a request an employer has to honor or should feel compelled to honor. This pandemic will not last for ever and the $600 FPUC payments do not last forever either.

Related Attorneys

Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC
Lisle Office
2300 Cabot Drive, Suite 500
Lisle, Illinois, 60532
Phone 630.871.2600
Geneva Office
21 North 4th Street
Geneva, Illinois, 60134
Phone 630.938.4769
Fax 630.871.9869
General Inquires [email protected]
  • facebook
  • linkedin

Contact Us

©2025 Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC. All rights reserved.

Law Firm Web Design by NMC

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}