Close to 400 received PUA initial claims

The CNMI Department of Labor is targeting to process Pandemic Unemployment Assistance worth at least $5 million this week, following over $3 million worth of PUA payments processed for initial claims last week.

At the news briefing last Friday, Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente said that close to 400 individuals from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota have already received their initial claims benefits, and that in the next couple of weeks, the department’s goal is to process all initial claims applications, pegged at over 7,000.

Labor will start processing weekly claims benefits applications afterwards. The department processes PUAs in chronological order, where each application goes through several processes, including review and adjudication. A Labor employee processes at least 30 to 40 applications a day.

“We processed several hundred initial applications. We are still going through several thousand, we’ve initiated payments for over $3 million as of yesterday, and today, that’ll go up by another $800,000 to a $1 million,” she said. “As far as processing, if someone says they were processed, good for them. They completed the application, the documents were intact, we verified the information with their employer, and that’s why they were processed.”

The Department of Finance then processes payments for PUA applications that were deemed complete and have been verified and approved by Labor, where payments are made through direct deposits or paper checks.

“What Labor submits to Department of Finance to carry out means they’ve gone through their application and there are no errors and everything’s verified and ready to go,” Finance Secretary David Atalig said. “We will process that claim or that check to them via direct deposit within 24 to 48 hours. The quickest and fastest way is to ensure that your application has your banking information so that we can serve that you get your money the quickest way.”

Incomplete applications

Labor is weeding out applications that are incomplete or are filed with incorrect information, as they are finding, based on verifications with the employers. According to Benavente, majority have errors, where they are finding, during the adjudication process, that about 40 out of 50 applications are done incorrectly or inaccurately.

“Many of the applicants have uploaded documents to the portal, which is great, because we don’t have to ask them proof of their income or proof of their hourly wages. But, much more, many more applicants did not upload their documents, or put in the correct wage or hours,” Benavente said. “Some employees did not correctly put the dates of their furlough [or] the dates and hours of [them being] laid off. All these information have to be completely verified for the process.”

To help rectify errors or incomplete applications, the department has been reaching out to applicants who have issues. Other government agencies have also loaned the department their employees to assist with telephone lines and email correspondence.

“We’re going to focus all staff on adjudication, which is reviewing and processing PUA claims,” she said.

Benavente also said that they are going to hold a community outreach on July 29, Wednesday, 9am to 4pm at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center, to help people who need more assistance with their applications, whether they be on weekly or initial claims.

“We’re practicing the social distancing that’s required because of this pandemic… and so although maybe we won’t get 1,000 people to help, at least we’ll get several hundred to assist that day,” she said.

Benavente also said that people may also visit and receive assistance at the Department of Labor’s office on Capital Hill, from 8am to 2pm.