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PUA 2.0 claimants to see payments
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Posted on Mar 23 2021
Claimants for the second round of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance/Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation should be expecting checks soon, according to CNMI Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente.
Speaking at the governor’s media briefing last March 19, Benavente said that claimants should have been expecting payments since last March 22.
“We have been printing checks for the second round of PUA and we hope to get the majority out by Monday. …The payment batches that were printed includes all of February 2021 and the first two weeks of March. We are pushing out those payments through direct deposit and through paper checks in the next few days,” said Benavente.
For those who filed for PUA 2.0 through paper applications, Benavente said the staff at the PUA headquarters have been processing them since last March 15, the last day to have submit a PUA application.
Benavente added that it will be a tedious process to input all applications from paper to computer since “a thousand were received on the same day.” Despite this, Benavente assured that each application has a date stamp and each file is assigned to a case worker. This process will allow the case workers to work as quickly as they can.
Benavente said there are more than 100 people who are working on the PUA program. As of March 19, Benavente said that there are more than 10,000 applicants for PUA 2.0.
As for the first round, Benavente said that those who have not received funds from the first round definitely have some problems with documents. She suggested that applicants should call in to see what the problem is.
“We have come across some people who were actually informed about the issue of the application but didn’t understand it. …If the applicant doesn’t understand why their application was rejected or disqualified…please give us a call,” said Benavente.
