Congress has passed a law calling for 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits. The President signed the bill on June 30, 2008.
If you opened a claim for benefits anytime after May 1, 2006 and then exhausted those benefits, you may be eligible for this extra
13 weeks of benefits.
The Maine Bureau of Unemployment has identified about 13,000 people who exhausted their benefits during the relevant time period.
They will be mailing application forms to those people. If you get one of these letters, fill out the application and mail it
back right away. The Bureau will then check to see if you meet all eligibility requirements. Then they will send you a notice of eligibility.
In order to collect these benefits, you will have to follow all of the usual rules, such as filing weekly and work search.
The Bureau has only limited capacity to take telephone applications, so filing a paper application may be faster. This application will
also be posted soon on the Maine Department of Labor Unemployment page.
The program will be available to people who exhaust benefits up to March 2009.
Learn more about Unemployment Benefits
