Jobless benefits and aid cutoff: a guide

About 28,000 Long Islanders are among the 2 million Americans who will stop getting unemployment checks at the end of this month - unless Congress votes soon to renew extended jobless benefits. Here's a guide to unemployed benefits and the looming aid cutoff.

WHO QUALIFIES:

People who lose their jobs through no fault or choice of their own. Workers who resign voluntarily or who lose their jobs for poor performance or misconduct don't qualify.

HOW MUCH:

In New York State, the maximum weekly payment is $405. Long Island's average weekly unemployment benefit is $325; that compares to the national average of $302.90.

OTHER BENEFITS:

Traditional state jobless benefits run up to 26 weeks. But the jobless can receive unemployment checks longer through two separate programs - a permanent federal-state program, called Extended Benefits (EB), and a temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program that Congress created in 2008.

All told - 26 weeks of regular unemployment, up to 20 weeks of EB and up to 53 weeks of EUC - some unemployed were able to receive up to 99 weeks of benefits.

According to the National Employment Law Project, 10 states guarantee extended benefits when unemployment is high, no matter what Congress does. They include Connecticut and New Jersey but not New York.