Lost Wages Assistance Benefits for Unemployed Workers

(Jefferson City, MO) The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ Division of Employment Security is announcing it's working as quickly as possible to issue Lost Wages Assistance benefit payments to unemployed workers as early as later this week. A press release from Governor Mike Parson indicates Missouri was granted initial funding for the LWA program and will be paying eligible recipients an additional $300 per week retroactively to the week ending August 1.  In order to receive an LWA benefit payment, an individual must be eligible to receive at least $100 in unemployment benefits per week, and the individual must self certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed as a result of the COVID19 pandemic. Those who self certified when they filed their initial claim and are eligible for an LWA benefit payment do not need to take any action because the state will automatically add the $300 to their weekly benefit amount. Individuals who did not indicate they were unemployed due to COVID19 and meet the other eligibility requirements will receive either email or mailed correspondence from the DES by the end of next week on their potential eligibility for the LWA program. The first retroactive payment should be issued by the end of this week and all others by the latter part of next week. The LWA is funded through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration Disaster Relief Fund. The President issued an Executive Order on August 8, 2020, directing FEMA, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, to administer the LWA program. For more send an email to Communications2@labor.mo.gov