Little is known about when and how unemployed workers in the county will receive the stimulus boost to their weekly unemployment checks.

In a release Monday, Jennifer Berrier, state Department of Labor & Industry acting secretary, announced that Pennsylvania is preparing for the new Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act extensions for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs.

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Labor & Industry said it was unclear if delays by the federal government in approving the legislation would cause a gap in these benefits for more than 509,000 workers in the state.

As of Tuesday afternoon, “We will not know until we get information from the Department of Labor,” said Labor & Industry spokeswoman Sarah DeSantis. “We just don't have the information.”According to published reports Tuesday evening, the U.S. Labor Department said unemployed people claiming federal benefits won't see a gap in their payments, despite President Donald Trump's delay in signing the program extension into law.The programs are:- PUA assists workers who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 who are not eligible for other unemployment compensation programs.- PEUC provides additional weeks of benefits to workers who have exhausted their unemployment compensation benefits.- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) will provide eligible claimants with $300 per week on top of the weekly benefit amount received from certain other unemployment programs. FPUC previously provided $600 per week in additional payments until the program ended in July.“The CARES Act extensions will ensure Pennsylvania workers who have been affected by the global economic downturn caused by COVID-19 will continue to receive the unemployment support they desperately need for themselves and their families,” said Berrier in a statement. “(Labor & Industry) began reviewing the legislation last week when it was first unveiled and will resume making payments for the PUA and PEUC programs as soon as we get approval from the federal Department of Labor to move forward.”The PUA and PEUC programs, which expired last week, received extensions under the new legislation signed by Trump Sunday.While Labor & Industry has already begun reviewing the legislation and working with its unemployment system vendor to make programmatic changes to accommodate the extensions, according to the release, the department must receive guidance and approval from the federal government before it can resume issuing payments through PUA, PEUC and FPUC.

It could take weeks until all the guidance needed for payments to resume for the CARES Act programs is issued, according to the state.Pennsylvanians are encouraged to seek other forms of assistance during the interim.“We know Pennsylvania workers are relying on these programs to pay for essential needs, so we are doing everything we can to begin resuming payments as quickly as we can after we receive more information from the U.S. Department of Labor,” Berrier said. “We strongly encourage these Pennsylvanians to apply for other forms of benefits that can help them while we wait on the federal government to provide us with the guidance and permission we need to begin implementing the extensions.”In the meantime, CareerLink has been handling calls from concerned county residents. Some are those who lost their jobs and can't get through to the state's unemployment compensation office.“People tend to get frustrated when they get answering machines,” said Susan Bowser, site administrator at Pennsylvania CareerLink in Butler County. “We are able to have Pennsylvania CareerLink staff answer our phones to talk to the job seekers and employers calling our office for assistance during the times we are open.”The office is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.The most common calls are job seekers looking for information about unemployment compensation, job search inquiries and referrals to services, Bowser said.“We refer them to the proper place, phone number or website if we are not able to answer their inquiry,” she said.

Here are some resources for those who are unemployed:- State unemployment office (apply for and file claims): https://www.uc.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx.- Pennsylvania CareerLink Butler County: https://www.pacareerlink.pa.gov/jponline/.- Tri-County Workforce Investment Board Inc.'s Career Training Resources and Career Knowledge (T.R.A.C.K.) program: https://tricountywib.org/programs/career-track.- Pennie: https://pennie.com.- Lifeline Program for Low-Income Consumers: https://www.fcc.gov/general/lifeline-program-low-income-consumers.- Heating Assistance/LIHEAP: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Assistance/Pages/LIHEAP.aspx.- Health Care/Medical Assistance: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Assistance/Pages/Medical-Assistance.aspx.- Meals on Wheels: https://www.aging.pa.gov/aging-services/meals/Pages/default.aspx.- Food banks and pantries: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/about/Ending-Hunger/Pages/Food-Pantries.aspx.- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Assistance/Pages/SNAP.aspx.- COMPASS benefits access: https://www.compass.state.pa.us/compass.web/Public/CMPHome.