AUSTIN (KXAN) — Heather Witthouse’s last day of work at Austin’s Cover 3 restaurant on Anderson Lane was March 13.
But, her first date of unemployment shows up as the week of April 12.
“Thankfully, I have friends and family that have my back, and I was able to defer any large payments like my mortgage and my car payment, but what happens when that time runs out?” she said.
Witthouse had several problems applying for unemployment initially, from a wrong PIN number to the Texas Workforce Commission saying that her personal information did not match her user name.
She was finally able to file for unemployment April 13. But, that still leaves a month of backdated unemployment benefits.
“I’m just waiting to hear back, I guess,” Witthouse, who called the agency at least 15 times Wednesday, said.
TWC spokesman Cisco Gamez said unemployment benefits are backdated until the time you stop working.
Generally, since the pandemic, regular claimants are backdated since March 8.
And, for self-employed individuals, their unemployment benefits are backdated since the week ending April 4. That’s because the federal CARES Act included unemployment benefits for the self-employed.
Overall, more than 2.25 million Texans have filed for unemployment and more than $3.9 billion has been paid out in benefits.
