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'It was like winning the lottery' | Man finally gets unemployment help after suddenly losing Extended Benefits

The federal unemployment program was cut short because North Carolina's jobless numbers improved.

Alex Shabad

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Published: 7:02 PM EST January 22, 2021
Updated: 12:30 AM EST January 26, 2021

A WCNC Charlotte Defenders investigation revealed a sudden and unexpected change to a federal unemployment program called Extended Benefits (EB).

The EB program allowed for an additional 10 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits.  It was meant for people who exhausted other unemployment help such as the 13 weeks of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and their 12 weeks worth of regular Unemployment Insurance (UI).

Some changes to the program prior to Dec. 13 cost eligible North Carolina residents several weeks’ worth of checks because of federal criteria tied to the state’s unemployment rate.

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