CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A WCNC Charlotte Defenders investigation is revealing inconsistences with a federal unemployment program.
It’s a supplemental program called Lost Wages Assistance or LWA. In order to qualify, you have to already be receiving at least $100 per week in unemployment benefits.
It caught the attention of the Defenders team, after a recent college graduate told us he fell short of qualifying by just $4. That’s because he applied in North Carolina.
The Defenders team learned that more than a dozen other states have minimum unemployment benefits of $100 a week or more. Once approved for benefits, people in those states would automatically meet the required amount for LWA, but the Carolinas are not among those states.
The college graduate, Collin Labar, says his benefits are $96 per week, so he can count on one hand the amount he’s short of qualifying for the program. However, if he lived in another state, it might be different.
“I’m right there on the line,” said Labar. “It would definitely take a big weight off my back.”
Labar missed out on the Lost Wages Assistance program by just a few dollars.
“$4 dollars is a difference of $300 dollars a week,” said Labar.
The federally funded program supplements other unemployment payments with an additional $300 per week, but in order to qualify people must already be receiving benefits of at least $100 per week.
“Because I was at $96 a week, I didn’t get the extra $300 for any of the weeks,” said Labar.
Ironically, the recent college graduate says he lined up a job as an economic analyst before the economy took a tumble.
“It was going to be in be June when I was supposed to start working and then it got pushed back to August because of COVID,” said Labar.
However, then Labar got another notice from his future employer saying the start date would be pushed back to January 2021.
“That kind of put me in a tough position,” Labar said.
In the meantime, Labar says he started looking for other jobs without any luck. That’s when he decided to apply for unemployment benefits in North Carolina. About six weeks later, he was approved for $96, which was not enough to keep up with big bills nor to meet the requirements for Lost Wages Assistance.
“Sadly, it’s just because I didn’t work that much while I was in school,” said Labar. “It stinks because it just seems like if I lived somewhere else I could get that extra $300.”
The Defenders team found 13 other states have minimum unemployment payments of at least $100 per week, according to the non-partisan initiative, USAFacts.org.
That means people in those states who are approved for unemployment would meet the $100 requirement for the LWA program. However, the data from USAFacts.org shows North Carolina has the third-lowest minimum payment in the country at $15 per week.
“Because it’s the North Carolina unemployment I’m going through how they decided to determine it, I feel like I’m kind of missing out,” said Labar.
Labar says he already signed an apartment lease and moved out to California where his future job is based, but he’s not sure how much longer he can afford rent.
“I’m very grateful I do have some saved up money and I can live a little bit, but that’s going to run out eventually,” said Labar.
Labar says he’s looking for an interim job and hoping to stay afloat until his new job begins next year.
North Carolina unemployment officials say the weekly benefit amount is set by state law and would require legislation to change it.
The Defenders team reached out to FEMA, which oversees the LWA program, to ask for a response about the inconsistency from state to state. FEMA responded by providing requirements for the program generally but did not address the specific issue about inconsistencies.