California will begin accepting online applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new federally funded program for self-employed and other people who don’t get regular state unemployment benefits, on Tuesday, according to new details posted on the Employment Development Department’s website.
The website answers some questions about the program, which many Californians have been anxiously awaiting since it was approved March 27 under the federal Cares Act. California Labor Secretary Julie Su answered some additional ones on a Facebook conference Monday.
Although the state employment department expanded its customer service hours, Su acknowledged that people are still having trouble getting through. “I own it, it is my responsibility,” she said.
The pandemic assistance program will provide up to 39 weeks of federally funded benefits to Californians who can’t get regular state benefits because they are business owners, self-employed or independent contractors. Former employees can also get them if they didn’t work enough to get regular state benefits, or had them but ran out.
To qualify, their business or service must have been “significantly reduced as a direct result of the pandemic.” The list of coronavirus-related reasons is fairly long. People who qualify for state disability insurance or paid family leave cannot get pandemic benefits.
People could get pandemic benefits retroactively back to Feb. 2 and through the week ending Dec. 26, depending on how they’ve lost work.
They will also have to “certify” for benefits, which involves “answering basic questions every two weeks that tells us you’re still unemployed and otherwise eligible” for biweekly payments.
“In the interest of speed,” the department will begin paying a minimum amount of benefits shortly after people apply, Su said.
These “initial payments” will come in three phases:
• From Feb. 2 through March 28, it will be $167 per week, which is the minimum basic pandemic benefit.
• From March 29 through July 25, it will be $167 plus a temporary $600 bump that is also coming from the federal government under the Cares Act.
• From July 26 through Dec. 26, it will drop back to $167 per week, up to a maximum of 39 weeks (minus any weeks the person may have received from regular unemployment insurance.)
“After these initial payments, depending on your prior earnings, your weekly amount of $167.00 per week may be increased,” the website says. It could be as high as $450 per week, the same maximum as regular unemployment insurance.
Su explained that applicants will “self-declare your income for tax year 2019,” but she didn’t say how or whether the state will verify it.
If people qualify for more than the $167 minimum weekly benefit, “in addition to applying to future benefits, any increase from the $167 amount also applies retroactively,” the website says.
In California, the question of who is an independent contractor has been complicated by AB5, which took effect this year. It reclassified many people who had been treated as independent contractors as employees, but many employers are still treating and paying them as contractors. It also resulted in a situation where many workers are being paid like contractors by some clients, and employees by others.
Daniel Savio, for example, worked as a pianist at St. Patrick’s Church in Larkspur, and for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. For those jobs, he was paid as an employee. He also worked for two theater groups in Marin. One is still paying him as a contractor; the other switched him to employee status this year. He hasn’t applied for unemployment yet because “I was really unclear on where I fall and exactly how I should apply because (his pay) is a combination of W-2s and 1099s,” he said.
The EDD has been encouraging self-employed people to apply for regular unemployment benefits. “If you are unsure if you are an independent contractor or an employee who could be eligible for benefits, file for regular Unemployment Insurance benefits and we will determine your eligibility,” it says on the website.
Some self-employed people who have applied for regular unemployment insurance have been told their benefit was zero. That could be because EDD had no information on them in its system, like it does for employees.
What’s still not clear is whether people who applied for regular unemployment insurance, known as UI, should now apply for pandemic unemployment assistance, or PUA.
“If we can take that application and transfer it into a PUA application, we will do that,” Su said. However, “it is likely to result in faster payment if you withdraw that UI (application) and start over.” Su said she would have a better answer to this question by the end of this week.
Another question I’ve gotten from many readers: What if they qualify for regular unemployment based on W-2 earnings, but also have income from self-employment?
“If someone has enough reported income to qualify for UI, they will get UI,” Crystal Page, a spokeswoman for Su, said in an email. “PUA is a benefit ‘of last resort’ in effect.”
Maurice Emsellem, a director with the National Employment Law Project, agreed. “If you are eligible for UI, you have to go on UI,” he said.
Even if a person’s weekly benefit would be higher under pandemic assistance than unemployment insurance, “it’s better to be on UI long term,” he added. One reason is that regular unemployment, which is paid for by a tax on employers, does not have to be a result of the coronavirus. Pandemic benefits do, for every week they’re claimed. “The Department of Labor may or may not give the states leeway on how they interpret that list of” coronavirus-related criteria.
For more information on pandemic benefits, go to https://edd.ca.gov.
Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
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Want Pandemic Unemployment Assistance? California gives details for the self-employed - San Francisco Chronicle
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