Pandemic unemployment office now better able to serve community

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a statement last Thursday, Human Resources Department announced that American Samoa’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistant (PUA) office has moved to the an office at the Pago Plaza in Pago Pago as of Mar. 16th.

The move stems from lack of office space and will enable PUA to provide services to its claimants. The new centralized location will serve claimants from both sides of the island.

“PUA assists and supports individuals who are unable to sustain employment as a result of COVID-19,” according to the DHR announcement, which was on the department’s letter-head and confirms, the names of two deputy directors - Max Tuitele for Personnel/Administration and Punipuao N. Sivas for WIOA - which is a federally funded US Department of Labor (USDOL) training program.

In the past years, WIOA had always have its own deputy director, who deals directly with the federal government, and the previous deputy, had retired last year.

USDOL last year awarded $16.2 million to ASG for the PUA and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program under the CARES Act. The two programs, overseen by DHR, provide unemployment benefits for workers who were financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To operate the two programs, American Samoa adopted Hawaii’s unemployment law.

However, the program has very strict requirements - only US citizens and US nationals and aliens who have green cards in the US are eligible. This disqualified many foreign nationals who are legal residents of American Samoa and were affected by the pandemic.

For more information, contact Mene Tauaa at (684) 731- 6331.

The ASG website (www.americansamoa.gov) provides a specific page on PUA program, which includes the application.