RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) today announced that the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) extension for customers who have used all of their previous benefits will launch Tuesday, February 9th at 4:00 PM.  This is the final component of the Federal extension and will provide up to 11 weeks of additional benefits.  VEC will be notifying customers with details about these additional benefits.  The VEC Call Center will extend hours on Tuesday to support customers with the new program, and customers will also be able to access their account and complete their claim on Gov2Go. 

The extension directly impacts two different groups of claimants that are eligible for the additional weeks of PEUC:

Group I: PEUC claimants who have exhausted their initial 13-week benefit and have claimed weeks through 12/26/20 will have the additional 11 weeks automatically added to their claim and need not take any further action except to continue filing weekly claims.  Payment for weeks claimed beginning with the week ending 01/02/21 will be automatically released on 02/09/21 and customers should receive payment as early as Thursday 2/11/21.

Group II: PEUC claimants who are not able to file a weekly claim because they do not meet the criteria of Group I must file a new PEUC 2021 claim.  The application will be available starting at 4 p.m. on 02/09/2021.  Claimants can complete the application by going to getgov2go.com (available on mobile devices) and creating an account (if they do not already have one) or by calling 1-866-832-2363.  A claimant can start claiming weeks for payment once their application has been processed, usually in 1-2 business days.  Customers will need their personal identification number (PIN) to file their weekly claim by calling 1-800-897-5630 or they can file weekly claims at getgov2go.com.

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