Governor Henry McMaster has directed the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) to terminate South Carolina’s participation in all federal, pandemic-related unemployment benefit programs, effective June 30, 2021.
Governor McMaster directed the agency to take the action in a letter to DEW Executive Director Dan Ellzey.
“South Carolina’s businesses have borne the brunt of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those businesses that have survived – both large and small, and including those in the hospitality, tourism, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors – now face an unprecedented labor shortage,” governor McMaster wrote.
In a memo to Governor McMaster, Executive Director Ellzey outlined existing federal unemployment programs and what will change when the governor’s directive goes into effect on June 30.
Those programs include the following:
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
- Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC)
- Emergency Unemployment Relief for Governmental Entities and Nonprofit Organizations
- Temporary Federal Funding of the First Week of Compensable Regular Unemployment for States with No Waiting Week
When the federal program started early in the pandemic, the benefit was $600 a week, given in addition to the state unemployment benefits. The benefit was later reduced to an additional $300 a week, active through September 6, 2021.
Following Governor McMaster’s actions, starting June 30, 2021, South Carolinians will lose the extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits. Contractors, gig workers, and similarly classified workers will also lose access to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, meaning those workers will no longer receive benefits.