TRENTON – The state Labor Department announced Monday that its Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) and Family Leave Insurance (FLI) benefit programs are replacing paper checks with electronic debit cards.
The department first issued debit cards for Unemployment Insurance benefits last November. By the end of March, all unemployment insurance claimants were receiving their benefits electronically through either a debit card or direct deposit to a bank account, the Department said.
Now, TDI and FLI claimants will move to electronic delivery of benefits. Injured workers and workers caring for seriously ill family members or bonding with newborn babies will have direct access to benefit payments.
They no long have to wait for the mail or pay check cashing fees, according to the Labor Department.
“Debit cards are a fast and secure way to access your money and we’re pleased to offer this service to our Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance claimants,” Commissioner Harold J. Wirths said in a statement.
As of Monday, new TDI and FLI claims will be paid by debit card. Direct deposit to a bank account is not available; however, TDI and FLI claimants may use their new debit cards to make online electronic transfers to the bank account of their choice through the card issuer, Bank of America.
The new debit card extends the same card advantages to TDI and FLI claimants as provided to Unemployment Insurance claimants, some of which include no fees for purchases from merchants that accept Visa debit cards; no fees for ATM withdrawals at domestic Bank of America ATMs; and two no-fee ATM withdrawals per month at non-Bank of America ATMs.
