COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW) announced Wednesday a six-week extension of its Extended Benefits (EB) program.
According to the agency, the added six weeks is in addition to the 10 weeks of EB previously announced in early July. These additional 6 weeks have been added because the unemployment rate in the state has been more than 8% over the last three months.
This is the last and final extension offered under state law.
According to the agency, the EB program now offers up to 16 weeks of benefits to individuals whose regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit year ended on or after June 14, 2020.
Claimants must have exhausted 20 weeks of regular unemployment and 13 weeks for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program before they can apply for EB.
Upon exhaustion of regular UI and PEUC benefits, SCDEW will notify individuals who are eligible to apply for the new EB program through their MyBenefits portal. If approved for EB, the Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) will be the same as the individual received for regular UI.
If a claimant is currently on EB, they will receive their WBA plus the $600 through Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program through the current expiration date of claim week-ending July 25, 2020, which is this Saturday.
Claimants eligible for benefits after July 25, 2020 will only receive their regular Weekly Benefit Amount.
Click here for a video tutorial of the EB application process.
Click here for a PDF tutorial.
Click here for additional EB materials.