HONOLULU -- An additional 14 weeks of federal benefits will be available to unemployed workers in Hawaii who previously exhausted their emergency unemployment compensation benefits.

The announcement came Friday from Darwin Ching, the director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Ching said the department will mail out notices to all claimants who have exhausted their 33 weeks of benefits and may be eligible for additional benefits under new federal legislation. The notices will advise claimants about how they can apply for the additional benefits.

The department has begun verifying claimants' eligibility and reprogramming computer systems to implement the additional benefits.

The additional weeks of benefits are entirely federally funded.