When COVID-19 shut down large portions of the U.S. economy in early 2020, traditional unemployment insurance left millions of workers uncovered. Self-employed workers, gig workers, independent contractors, and part-time workers who didn't meet standard eligibility requirements had no safety net. The federal government responded with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) — a program that Ohio, under Governor Mike DeWine, administered alongside its existing unemployment system.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance was a federal program created by the CARES Act, signed into law in March 2020. It was not a state program — it was federally funded and federally structured — but each state was responsible for setting up its own administration, verification processes, and payment systems.
Ohio's implementation fell under the oversight of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), and decisions about how Ohio ran that program were made during DeWine's administration. That context is why searches pairing "DeWine" with "pandemic unemployment" often appear — his administration was the face of Ohio's COVID-era unemployment response.
PUA was specifically designed for workers who were:
Ohio used a separate filing portal for PUA claimants distinct from the standard unemployment system. The ODJFS processed an unprecedented volume of claims during this period, which created widely reported backlogs, verification delays, and confusion for many filers.
Key features of how Ohio's PUA program operated:
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Benefit base | Calculated using prior self-employment income or a federal minimum |
| Federal supplement | FPUC added $600/week (later $300/week) on top of base benefits |
| Program duration | Originally through December 2020; extended into 2021 |
| Backdating | Claims could be backdated to the week of January 27, 2020 in qualifying cases |
| Documentation | Claimants were later required to verify prior earnings |
The $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) supplement, added to both regular UI and PUA benefits, was a separate layer — not a DeWine-specific policy — but Ohio claimants received it through the same payment process.
PUA benefit amounts were not uniform. Several factors shaped what a claimant actually received:
Prior income documentation. PUA benefits were supposed to reflect prior earnings. Ohio, like other states, eventually required claimants to submit documentation — tax returns, 1099s, bank records — to verify self-employment income. Claimants who could not document prior income typically received the minimum benefit, which was based on 50% of the average weekly UI benefit in their state.
The federal supplements. The $600/week FPUC ran from late March through July 2020. After a gap, a $300/week supplement was authorized through later federal legislation. Whether a claimant received these supplements depended entirely on the timing of their benefit weeks.
Reason for unemployment. PUA had specific qualifying reasons tied to COVID-19. A worker had to certify each week that their unemployment was connected to a covered COVID-related cause. The reason mattered for both initial eligibility and weekly certifications.
One of the most significant issues that emerged from Ohio's pandemic unemployment programs — PUA included — was overpayments. 🔔
Overpayments occurred for several reasons:
Ohio, like most states, pursued recovery of overpaid PUA benefits. Whether a specific overpayment was subject to waiver — meaning the state would not require repayment — depended on whether the overpayment was the claimant's fault and whether repayment would cause financial hardship. The waiver process and eligibility for it varied based on individual circumstances and how the ODJFS adjudicated each case.
When a PUA claim was denied or an overpayment was assessed, claimants had the right to appeal. Ohio's appeal process for PUA followed the same basic structure as standard unemployment appeals:
PUA appeals involved the same procedural requirements as regular UI appeals — deadlines mattered, and missing them typically meant waiving appeal rights for that determination.
PUA ended nationally when federal authorization expired. For most states, the final benefit week was in early September 2021. Ohio ended its participation in the federal pandemic programs even earlier — in June 2021 — when the DeWine administration opted out of the remaining federal supplemental benefits.
New PUA claims can no longer be filed. However, issues related to PUA — including overpayment notices, appeal hearings, and documentation requests — have continued well past the program's end date as states worked through backlogs of pending determinations.
Whether a past PUA issue in Ohio has been resolved, remains open, or is subject to further review depends entirely on the status of that individual's claim with ODJFS — the specific weeks claimed, how income was documented, whether any determination was appealed, and what the outcome of that process was.