The Delaware Division of Unemployment insurance continues to make payments for the Lost Wage Assistance program. However, the timing of payments will vary depending on the status of each individual’s claim. For week 1 we paid approximately 27,000 individuals and a slightly smaller number for weeks 2 and 3.

• Individuals in the traditional Unemployment Insurance program who did not certify at the time their initial claim was filed, that their employment was disrupted due to COVID 19, will receive an email and or call to inform them about how to certify.
  • Check your spam or junk folder to ensure you did not miss our email.
  • If we are unsuccessful in reaching you by email or phone, we will mail a notice to the address submitted when you filed your claim.
  • We will begin making payments to these individuals the week of September 28.
  • If you believe you may be eligible for LWA, you can attempt to certify at 302-761-6576. You will be asked to make your language selection (1 for English, 2 for Spanish), press 1 for the LWA certification process, and enter your SSN and PIN and follow the prompts. Respond accurately to the question about your direct impact from the pandemic and then follow any further instructions.
• Eligible individuals in the traditional unemployment insurance program who did certify that their employment was disrupted due to COVID 19, have received payments for weeks 1-3, and payments for weeks 4-6 will be made the week of September 28.
• Eligible individuals in programs supported on our new system, including PUA, PEUC, and Extended Benefits, have received payment for weeks 1-3, and payment for weeks 4-6 will be made the week of September 28.
• We are working to identify and make payments to eligible individuals who transitioned between programs during the FEMA LWA program period.
• Our goal is for all eligible individuals to be paid their LWA benefits by Oct. 2.

For individuals whose claims are not yet approved, we have processes in place to identify those claims as they become eligible and will make every effort to pay the LWA benefit as long as allowed by FEMA.

When reviewing yesterday’s payment file for weeks 2 and 3, we discovered payments had been made to individuals not eligible for LWA benefits for those weeks. We reversed those payments and that resulted in some individuals seeing payments made, and then reversed. We apologize for that error and are working to correct the process to prevent it from recurring.

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Contact:
Kenneth Briscoe
Communications Director
Delaware Department of Labor
kenneth.briscoe@delaware.gov

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