What I learned today: when the state needs to pay out seven weeks of unemployment at once it does not issue one check. It issues seven checks.
And when the state has to pay an additional $600 a week due to enhanced unemployment benefits, they do not issue one check for those seven weeks, or combine it with the normal unemployment.
No, when you get seven weeks of benefits, fourteen checks arrive in the mail on the same day.
And then, you get to take a very happy trip to the bank!
The checks wouldn’t have come on this day without the help of AmyBeth, Speaker Kotek’s legislative aide. She was invaluable at giving me information about the process, telling me about a trick (calling rural unemployment departments) and putting me on Speaker Kotek’s coronovirus-specific mailing list.
I really appreciate the help of my representative, her staff, and the people of the Canyon City unemployment department, especially Sunshine, who used the Big Post-It Method to ensure someone called me back.
After this first run of checks, my weekly benefit will be deposited electronically into my bank account.
This is interesting. A little surprising, but also not at the same time.
So glad that the waiting game was finally done.
It was pretty frustrating there for a while, but man, what a great payoff!