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Labor targets release of up to $10M for 1,500 PUA claimants
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Posted on Aug 05 2020
The CNMI Department of Labor is targeting to disperse up to $10 million this week for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
At a radio media briefing yesterday, Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente stated that they are working on processing as many PUA applications as possible and are targeting to distribute between $5 million and $10 million worth of payment to about 1,000 to 1,500 approved claimants.
“We’re working on a daily basis anywhere between 300 and 500 applications. As far as approving, those take time to vet the applicants’ information because we are finding numerous errors. …If these applications have been found to be inaccurate, incorrect, or employer documents are missing, then that number will probably go down,” she said.
To help applicants rectify errors or go through their applications smoothly, the department will again be hosting another outreach, this time via a virtual online forum, to limit person-to-person contact.
Labor will be scheduling sessions with different organizations, to assist people with filling out the applications.
On average, only about 40 out of 500 applications are approved and processed for payment each day due to errors, according to Benavente. The department received 7,000 initial applications and processes anywhere between 300 to 500 applications every week.
“Although the numbers are tapering down, we still have a consistent number of people and we expect this to continue over the next few weeks to few months, depending on the turnaround in our economy,” she said.
To ask about the status of your PUA application, as well as for other questions, email the Department of Labor at info@puamarianas.com.
