OESC Preparing For Extended Pandemic Relief Benefits

The additional pandemic unemployment benefits are set to expire Sunday, but the American Rescue Plan Act would increase the duration of benefits offered through the pandemic relief programs.

"I'm pretty confident to say, ‘Yes, there will be a delay,’” Oklahoma Employment Security Commission executive director Shelley Zumwalt said. “The issue with our system is using that 40-year-old delay frame. We are working as fast as we can. We already started to work on it."

Zumwalt said the OESC is waiting for more information from the U.S. Department of Labor before they can move forward with extended benefits.