Mississippi approved for Lost Wages Assistance Program

JACKSON, Miss. (WLOX) - Mississippi’s application for a FEMA grant under the Lost Wages Assistance Program has been approved.

Mississippians who are unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19 and are currently receiving a weekly unemployment benefit amount of $100 or more from one of the following programs will be eligible to receive an additional $300 a week in the LWA FEMA program:

Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE)
Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX)
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Extended Benefits (EB)
Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA)
Self-Employment Assistance (SEA)

MDES will implement the program and funds will be available within three to four weeks.

Claimants do not need to file a separate application to receive LWA. MDES will make the LWA payments in the same manner as any payment from one of the above-listed programs payable for the week involved for all participating claimants. The $300 LWA payment is subject to both federal and state income taxes.

Benefits will be available for weeks of unemployment from the last week of July through until no later than Dec. 27, 2020, or when the balance in FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund reaches $25 billion, or when the $44 billion from the funds designated for LWA are exhausted, or when the state matching funds have been exhausted, whichever occurs first.

Funding for these benefits would also terminate upon enactment of legislation providing, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, supplemental federal unemployment compensation, or similar compensation, for unemployed or underemployed individuals.