The Oregon Employment Department (OED) has announced that as of November 24th, they have started issuing waiting week payments to eligible Oregonians.
The ‘waiting week’ is the first week of your claim when you meet all eligibility requirements. You must claim the week, but you are not paid for it. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have waived the waiting week for regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) initial claims from March 8, 2020, through Jan. 2, 2021. If you filed an eligible initial claim for regular UI and you claimed your initial week during this period, you will be paid for this first week.
The waiting week does not add any more benefits to your claim balance (your maximum benefit amount). You will still receive 26 weeks of regular UI benefits.
- Those whose waiting week falls between March 29 and July 25 will get a $600 FPUC payment.
- Those whose waiting week falls between July 26 and Sept. 5 will get an extra $300 LWA payment.
OED will continue paying waiting week payments for claims filed through Jan. 2, 2021. If you have exhausted your benefits (with a $0 balance) you will NOT receive a waiting week payment. This is because you have hit your maximum benefit amount and essentially already received your waiting week payment.
Oregonians who received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) will not receive a waiting week payment, as those programs pay claimants’ first eligible week.
If you’re not sure if you’re eligible for a waiting week, or when your waiting week is, you can log in to the Online Claims System to see what amount you will receive. Go to your claim’s status and select ‘Where is my check?’
While most people will receive their payment within three business days, it will be a longer process for about 25% of eligible claimants. If you receive PEUC, Extended Benefits, or Workshare, OED will need to manually process your payment. That could take 30 to 60 days.
You do NOT need to contact the Employment Department to receive your payment, even if your payment will be manually processed.
For more information about the waiting week, visit our Waiting Week FAQ.
