Arizona will pay people up to $2,000 if they return to work. Here's what to know about getting the money
Ryan Randazzo
Arizona doesn't yet have a way for people on unemployment to apply for the $2,000 bonuses for getting a job the governor recently announced, but it does have some important advice: Keep your pay stubs if you plan to apply.
"Individuals who intend to apply should save their pay stubs in order to verify their qualifying hours worked after leaving unemployment and returning to work," the Department of Economic Security said Thursday.
Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this month announced people collecting jobless benefits could get a $2,000 bonus for getting back to work, as well as cash for community college and child care. Few details of how to get that money are available.
Ducey also is ending the additional $300 a week people on jobless benefits get because of the pandemic, effective July 10, leaving Arizonans collecting benefits with a maximum of $240 a week. About 210,000 Arizonans are collecting benefits today.
The bonus checks and cash for school and child care will only be available to people who get jobs and work at least eight 40-hour workweeks during their first 10 weeks back in the workforce.
Bonuses of $1,000 will be available for those working at least eight 20-hour weeks.
The state will not have a way for people to apply for the bonuses until July 10, the Department of Economic Security said Thursday. But it did advise to hang on to pay stubs for proof.
To get the money, people will have to not only leave the unemployment program but show they got a job with pay stubs, and they will have to provide the state with an employer to contact.
People can apply for a $2,000 bonus after working 320 hours or more or a $1,000 bonus after working 160 hours or more during the first 10 weeks after returning to work at a qualifying job between May 13-Sept. 6.
The department still is figuring out who exactly who will qualify, and how. That means people who want to collect the bonus have to take it on faith that they will get the money if they return to work before the details are released July 10.
For example, the state doesn't know for sure how people who were self employed will have to prove they have gone back to work to get the bonus. Will they qualify for the money at all?
"Potentially," DES said in an update Thursday posted online. "All individuals who meet eligibility requirements, stop receiving unemployment benefits, and return to qualifying employment are eligible for the (return-to-work bonus)."
How the payments will work
Other details DES has offered on the program include:
- The bonuses will be paid only to people who earn $25 an hour or less.
- They must begin working in the new job by Sept. 6. That earning threshold also is set for the child care benefits the governor announced.
- Individuals filing their first claim for unemployment after May 15 are not eligible.
- People must stop receiving unemployment benefits to be eligible for the bonus.
- People with two or more part-time jobs can qualify if their combined hours are equivalent to a 40-hour work week for the $2,000 bonus or a 20-hour work week for the $1,000 bonus.
- The state intends to launch an online portal to apply for the bonuses July 10.
- DES intends to make the payments via direct deposit to workers' bank accounts or by paper check, if preferred.
- People can change jobs or have a brief gap in employment and still qualify for the bonus if they meet the hours-worked requirement during the 10-week period.
- The bonuses will be taxable income and DES does not anticipate the ability to deduct taxes from the payments when they are made, which can be done with unemployment benefits.
- DES is researching whether to withdraw child-support payments from the bonuses when they are paid.
- DES also is researching whether to count the bonuses as income toward the eligibility requirements for programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Cash Assistance, and Medicaid.
Many Arizonans remain out of work
More than 210,000 Arizonans were getting some form of jobless benefits the week of May 15, according to DES.
That includes about 33,000 getting regular unemployment; 113,000 getting "pandemic unemployment assistance," or PUA, that was established for people who don't qualify for regular unemployment (like those who were self-employed) but lost jobs in the pandemic; and another 67,000 on an extension of benefits.
The state also saw about 7,000 new claims for benefits come in that week.
The bonus program Ducey announced is aimed at enticing people back to the workforce, where a host of employers are seeking labor to meet the resurgent demand for food, beverage and leisure services.
“In Arizona, we’re going to use federal money to encourage people to work … instead of paying people not to work,” Ducey said in his initial announcement. “With ample supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine on hand and millions of Arizonans vaccinated, people feel safer and are finally returning to life in Arizona as we knew and loved it before."
Expert says plenty of funding available
The governor said he will set aside $300 million for the bonuses and they are available to people returning to work from May 13 to Sept. 6 on a first-come basis.
"I don't think there will be an issue with enough money in the account," said Dave Wells, research director for the centrist Grand Canyon Institute.
The fund should be enough for 150,000 or so people to take advantage of the bonuses, or nearly 3/4 of the number of people collecting jobless benefits in the state.
But Wells is concerned the program needs to be communicated clearly to people who want to participate.
"It is going to be helpful for them to clarify as soon as possible how this is going to work so people can understand," Wells said. "Presumably people are getting jobs now and they are going to need to know what kind of documentation they are going to need."
Because self-employed people have had a more difficult time proving to states that they qualify for unemployment benefits during the pandemic, Wells expects the same with the bonus program.
"It will be easier for people working for more formal employers than less formal ones in terms of documentation," Wells said. "Some smaller employers don't always do paperwork the way they should, which will make it harder for some people, lower-earning people especially."
Reach reporter Ryan Randazzo at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4331. Follow him on Twitter @UtilityReporter.