



McKEESPORT, December 10, 2010 – State Sen. Jim Brewster is urging jobless workers whose federal unemployment benefits have, or will soon expire, to continue filing for the weekly payments. “Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Labor has advised me that continuing to file should help expedite the resumption of payments if Congress acts,” Brewster said. “Knowing that many families are barely surviving with unemployment benefits, I urge them to make sure they keep filing – while we all pray that Congress acts soon.”
Brewster said Congress is debating extending the 73-week emergency benefits that expired at the end of November. Unless Congress acts soon, he said over 200,000 jobless Pennsylvanians will likely lose their benefits by the end of January.
The McKeesport lawmaker said state Labor Department officials advised him that about 100,000 letters were mailed this week to those whose benefits ended, or soon will end, with instructions on how to continue filing. If Congress acts, claimants who missed payments will likely receive a retroactive lump sum of the benefit checks they missed.
“I hope Congress does the right thing and acts soon,” Brewster said. “But in the meantime, those who are jobless need to do all they can to make sure they can get their benefits resumed as quickly as possible once Congress acts.”
Brewster said the nationwide recession has been particularly hard on the Mon Valley and struggling industrial towns. He said cutting jobless families from the unemployment rolls “causes catastrophic problems for those families, and residual pain for the region’s economy.”
More information on filing for unemployment compensation can be obtained at: www.uc.pa.gov.
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One Monroeville Center
3824 Northern Pike, Suite 1015
Monroeville, PA 15146
Phone: 412.380.2242
Fax: 412.380.2249
*Every Monday and Tuesday
9:00 a.m. − 4:30 p.m.
Allegheny Twp. Municipal Building
136 Community Building Road
Leechburg, PA 15656
201 Lysle Boulevard
Suite 100
McKeesport, PA 15132
Phone: 412.664.5200
Fax: 412.664.5202
*Every Wednesday and Thursday
8:30 a.m. − 4:00 p.m.
Vandergrift Municipal Building
109 Grant Avenue
Vandergrift, PA 15690
New Kensington City Hall
301 11th Street, Suite L
New Kensington, PA 15068
Phone: 724.334.1143
Fax: 724.334.1152
*2nd Tuesday of every month
9:00 a.m. − 12:00 p.m.
Forward Twp. Municipal Building
1000 Golden Circle
Elizabeth, PA 15037
458 Main Capitol Building
Senate Box 203045
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: 717.787.5580
Fax: 717.772.3588
*1st Wednesday of every month
1:00 p.m. − 4:00 p.m.
Human Services Center Corp.
413 Penn Avenue Ext.
Turtle Creek, PA 15145