Gov. Ned Lamont has signed an executive order that the administration says will allow an additional 38,000 people to qualify for supplemental unemployment benefits. The mostly low-wage workers would get up to $1,800 each. The money comes from a federal pandemic relief program. Previously, workers who lost their jobs only qualified for six weeks of extra benefits, if they were receiving unemployment payments of at least $100 per week. The executive order increases the unemployment benefit for these workers to the $100 threshold. That makes them eligible retroactively for the 6-weeks worth of up to $300 weekly payments from the federal pandemic relief program.
