Wyoming Unemployment Insurance payments pass $440M

CHEYENNE – Since March 19, 2020, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services’ (DWS) Unemployment Insurance (UI) division has distributed more than $440 million to Wyoming workers who have lost their employment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Between our regular Wyoming Unemployment Insurance and the federal programs that have broadened the eligibility for UI benefits, we’ve been able to provide an unprecedented amount of financial assistance to those who are in need right now,” said Holly McKamey Simoni, Workforce Programs Administrator for DWS. “These payments to UI claimants provide much-needed help for those claimants, and it also is spent in local communities, keeping the local economy healthy.”

All UI benefits are administered by the UI division of DWS, though only the regular Wyoming UI benefits are paid from the Wyoming UI Fund. The federal programs initiated by the CARES Act and other legislation or executive orders are funded by the U.S. government. Those programs include the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Extended Benefits (EB), Lost Wages Assistance (LWA), and Multiple Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC).

Payments to claimants qualifying for the various programs from March 19, 2020, through Feb. 5, 2021, are as follows:

DWS continues to distribute UI payments to those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. To file a claim online, visit WYUI.wyo.gov. Claimants with questions about their accounts may call the UI call center at 307-473-3789.