Lost Wages Assistance (LWA)
Program Expired September 5, 2020
LWA Overview
The Lost Wages Assistance Program will provide $300 per week, in addition to a claimant’s weekly benefit amount. The presidential memorandum outlines that an “eligible claimant” is someone who is eligible to receive $100 in either state or federal weekly benefit amount, someone who completes the weekly certification process and someone who is unemployed as a continued result of COVID-19.
Like all states who opted into the LWA program, South Carolina has been approved for six weeks of benefits. The weeks a claimant may be found eligible for the additional $300 per week is claim weeks ending August 1 - September 5, 2020. The maximum a claimant can receive is $1,800 for those six weeks.
Unlike the CARES Act programs, the LWA program has a funding cap, which means once the allocated funding is exhausted, current or retroactive payments will no longer be available. FEMA has confirmed that available funding allocated to the DRF for LWA has been exhausted. This means there is no additional funding for states beyond the six weeks listed above.
Also unlike the CARES Act programs, LWA requires states who pay LWA benefits fraudulently to repay that balance to FEMA. The repayment can not be paid by the state's UI Trust Fund, but would require to be allocated from the state's general budget. This puts a significant impact financially on all taxpayers in the state and is why additional fraud measures have been implemented with the LWA program.
LWA Eligibility
To be eligible to receive the weekly $300 LWA funds, you must:
- Be eligible for a weekly benefit amount of at least $100 for one of the following unemployment programs during the week in which you are seeking LWA funds:
- State Unemployment Insurance (UI)
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
- Extended Benefits (EB)
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
- Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA).
- Certify that you were unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As stipulated by the President’s memorandum, claimants eligible to receive less than $100 per week in state or federal unemployment benefits will not be eligible to receive LWA funds and will only receive their weekly benefit amount for that week.
Additionally, you will not receive the LWA payment if you earn excessive wages for a claim week that results in you not receiving at least $1 of underlying state or federal unemployment benefits.
Direct communication has been sent to all claimants. If you are eligible to receive LWA benefits (see eligibility requirements above) you will see the "Identity Verification" and then "File Lost Wages Assistance Certification" on the Customer Menu page of your portal. If you do not see the link, this means you do not meet the basic eligibility requirements to apply.
LWA Payments
Payment Amount: $300.
Duration of LWA Program: States approved for Lost Wages Assistance have been approved for claim weeks ending August 1 - September 5, 2020.
First Payable Week: The LWA program is now available to apply for in the MyBenefits portal. Once an eligible claimant has successfully completed the ID verification and certification process, they can expect to receive their payment within 7-14 days. The LWA payment will be provided in a one-time lump sum for the weeks they are found eligible for.
If you are found eligible for LWA benefits, there will be a payment notice on your portal homepage. However, if it has been several days and you have not received your mailed check, it may have been returned to our agency.
You should log into your MyBenefits portal, look for the “Change Personal Info” tab and confirm your address is correct. It is the claimant's responsibility to update contact information if it changes.
If you are having your mail forwarded to an address not in your MyBenefits portal the check WILL come back to the agency. Due to fraud integrity measures, checks cannot be forwarded. You will need to update your new address in your portal to receive your re-issued check.
If you were notified by our agency that your check was returned to DEW, and you have already requested a new check, it will not be reissued until you have updated your address in the system.
Additional LWA Resources
Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) FAQs
ID Verification Process Guide
CSS Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) Guide