President Trump signed into law the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, 2020.

This law makes a number of changes to the availability of unemployment insurance benefits including increasing availability to those who are self-employed or contract workers, those ineligible for state unemployment benefits and those who have exhausted benefits.

The CARES Act includes expansion of unemployment insurance benefits as follows:

• Expands eligibility to individuals who historically have not been eligible for unemployment benefits such as individuals who are self-employed, contract workers or gig workers under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
• Provides people with an additional $600 per week in Pandemic Unemployment Compensation on top of the unemployment amount already offered by Arizona Unemployment benefits. This includes the newly-eligible individuals outlined above.
  • The additional Pandemic Unemployment Compensation provided is not considered “income” for purposes of Medicaid and CHIP
• Authorizes extended benefits for an additional 13 weeks for individuals who exhaust their unemployment benefits.

NOTICE: The CARES Act has been signed into law, and Arizona is awaiting further guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor on when the benefits will be available.

Although these additional benefits are not yet available, Arizona is now accepting applications for CARES Act benefits, and those claims will be processed as soon as DES receives additional guidance.

We are in the process of making changes to the unemployment insurance program. We will keep you updated through our website, media outlets and social media. Our customer service representatives do not have additional information at this time.

If your benefits are affected, we will notify you.

For those who were previously eligible and have already applied, please continue to file your weekly claim. For those who are self-employed, independent contractors, nonprofit employees, and gig economy workers, or requesting an extension of benefits and are not currently filing weekly claims, please submit your initial application now. You may file a claim here. If you have already filed a claim, you do not need to take any action at this time. Please continue to check this website daily for updates.