Programming updates and federal funding has allowed the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations to offer a choice of either Extended Benefits (EB20) or Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PEUC) for claimants that filed for extended benefits between Dec. 15 and 28 last year.

The DLIR said Saturday that it would be sending emails to those eligible claimants who then have until 5:30 p.m. Friday to chose an option.

Claimants who do not respond will have their claim automatically processed for EB20. Claimants will need to log in to their web account and click on the “Extended Benefits Survey” button to make their selection. The survey is available from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Claimants choosing to continue their PEUC claim will receive benefits from weeks ending Jan. 2 and onwards. The department is currently performing programming and testing to implement the extended PEUC program, according to a news release.

For more information about unemployment insurance and other labor issues please see labor.hawaii.gov/covid-19-labor-faqs/.