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The Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL) announced Monday that between March 16 and May 1 more than $503 million in COVID-19 related unemployment benefits had been paid out to more than 206,000 Alabamians.

The department is now paying benefits under all three programs covered under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (FEUC) program.

According to a press release from the department, ADOL has at this point paid out the equivalent of 511,594 weeks of benefits, including more than $247 million in FPUC benefits, the $600 stimulus benefit added to weekly unemployment payments/

ADOL has paid out more than $5.2 million in PUA funds and more than $826,000 in PEUC funds, representing payments made to 84 percent of claimants filing for unemployment benefits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington, the release of the PUA app last week meant that the department was able to get “benefits out in a faster manner.”

“We continue to work on a daily basis to improve the systems to make them more efficient and to streamline payments,” Washington said. “We hear the complaints and take them seriously. ADOL is working around the clock to ensure that everyone who is entitled to these funds receives them]. Even though we’ve made payments to 84 percent of those who have filed, we know there are many still waiting and [they] have not been forgotten.”

While responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has become ADOL’s primary job since the disease hit Alabama over a month ago, the department is still handling claims not related to the crisis, which thus far have cost more than an additional $100 million – while more than $503 million has been paid out to claimants impacted by the pandemic, the department has paid out a total of more than $609 million in unemployment benefits.

To use the unemployment insurance (UI) claims tracker or to learn more, visit ADOL online at labor.alabama.gov.