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Home » Unemployment Benefits » New Unem­ploy­ment Ben­e­fits Under the Coro­n­avirus Stim­u­lus Package

New Unem­ploy­ment Ben­e­fits Under the Coro­n­avirus Stim­u­lus Package

March 29, 2020 by Lisa Guerin

On March 27, 2020, Con­gress passed the CARES Act, a $2 tril­lion stim­u­lus pack­age that pumps money into many areas of our econ­omy that have been stressed by COVID-​19. (CARES stands for Coro­n­avirus Aid, Relief, and Eco­nomic Secu­rity.) For those who have lost jobs or income due to the pan­demic, the CARES Act greatly expands unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits by mak­ing more work­ers eli­gi­ble, adding $600 to every weekly ben­e­fit check, and extend­ing ben­e­fits for 13 more weeks.

Expanded Eli­gi­bil­ity for Unem­ploy­ment Benefits

The CARES Act autho­rizes the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram, which makes many more work­ers eli­gi­ble for unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits dur­ing the coro­n­avirus pub­lic health emer­gency. Under cur­rent rules, the pro­gram expires at the end of 2020.

Gig Work­ers, Free­lancers, Con­trac­tors, and Part-​Time Work­ers Can Receive Benefits

In every state, employ­ees qual­ify for ben­e­fits if they are tem­porar­ily out of work through no fault of their own. How­ever, prior to the CARES Act, some cat­e­gories of work­ers could not get ben­e­fits, includ­ing inde­pen­dent con­trac­tors (free­lancers, gig work­ers, and the self-​employed). Under the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram, these work­ers will now be eli­gi­ble for unem­ploy­ment benefits.

Part-​time work­ers are also eli­gi­ble for coronavirus-​related unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits, even if state law does not ordi­nar­ily allow them to col­lect ben­e­fits. And, work­ers who do not have a suf­fi­cient work his­tory to qual­ify for ben­e­fits under their state’s usual eli­gi­bil­ity rules might still qualify.

All Work­ers Who Are Out of Work Due to COVID-​19 Likely Qual­ify for Benefits

Many states have relaxed their eli­gi­bil­ity rules in the last few weeks so more work­ers qual­ify for ben­e­fits. For exam­ple, some states are grant­ing unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits to work­ers who are:

  • quar­an­tined
  • car­ing for a fam­ily mem­ber with COVID-​19, or
  • car­ing for chil­dren whose school or care facil­ity has been shut down.

If your state has expanded eli­gi­bil­ity in these ways and you are out of work for rea­sons related to the coro­n­avirus pan­demic, you may now qual­ify for state unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits. (You’ll find fre­quently updated sum­maries of COVID-​19-​related changes to state rules here.)

Even if your state has not changed its rules, the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram will prob­a­bly cover you. For exam­ple, you will be eli­gi­ble for ben­e­fits if you are out of work for any of these reasons:

  • You have a COVID-​19 diag­no­sis or are expe­ri­enc­ing symp­toms and seek­ing a diagnosis.
  • A mem­ber of your house­hold has a COVID-​19 diagnosis.
  • You are car­ing for a fam­ily or house­hold mem­ber with a COVID-​19 diagnosis.
  • Your child or other house­hold mem­ber for whom you are the pri­mary care­giver is unable to attend school or another facil­ity that has closed due to the COVID-​19 pub­lic health emergency.
  • You are unable to go to work because of a quar­an­tine or because a health care provider has advised you to self-quarantine.
  • You were sched­uled to begin a job that no longer exists or that you can’t get to for rea­sons relat­ing to the COVID-​19 pub­lic health emergency.
  • The head of your house­hold died as a result of COVID-​19, and you have become the house­hold’s bread­win­ner or major support.
  • You have to quit your job as a direct result of COVID-19.
  • Your work­place is closed as a direct result of the COVID-​19 pub­lic health emergency.

Big­ger Unem­ploy­ment Checks

Each state has its own for­mula for deter­min­ing the size of unem­ploy­ment checks, sub­ject to a max­i­mum amount set by state law. Ben­e­fit amounts vary widely, from a max­i­mum ben­e­fit in Mis­sis­sippi of $235 per week to a max­i­mum of more than $800 in Massachusetts.

Under the CARES Act, how­ever, you can get an addi­tional $600 per week, called Fed­eral Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Com­pen­sa­tion, on top of your weekly state ben­e­fit. Those newly eli­gi­ble for ben­e­fits under the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram will also get this addi­tional bump. This will greatly increase weekly unem­ploy­ment pay­ments, at least until July 31, 2020, which is the pro­vi­sion’s cur­rent expi­ra­tion date.

The CARES Act also encour­ages states to waive the one-​week wait­ing period that would oth­er­wise keep you from get­ting ben­e­fits for the first week you are unem­ployed. The fed­eral gov­ern­ment will reim­burse those states that agree to pay claimants for this wait­ing week. Many states have already elim­i­nated their wait­ing week; most of the rest will likely fol­low, now that the feds are pick­ing up the tab.

More Weeks of Unem­ploy­ment Benefits

In most states, appli­cants can receive ben­e­fits for up to 26 weeks. (Some states are less gen­er­ous; find out how long ben­e­fits last in your state.) The CARES Act pro­vides an addi­tional 13 weeks of benefits—called Pan­demic Emer­gency Unem­ploy­ment Compensation—to claimants after their state ben­e­fits run out. Work­ers who would not oth­er­wise be eli­gi­ble for ben­e­fits under state law but are receiv­ing ben­e­fits under the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram can get up to 39 total weeks of benefits.

How to Apply for Coro­n­avirus Unem­ploy­ment Benefits

The CARES Act adds new rules and ben­e­fit enti­tle­ments at a time when claims are already over­whelm­ing state unem­ploy­ment agen­cies. States will scram­ble to imple­ment some parts of the CARES Act—particularly the Pan­demic Unem­ploy­ment Assis­tance Pro­gram, which cre­ates a fed­eral enti­tle­ment that the states must admin­is­ter, for cat­e­gories of work­ers who don’t qual­ify for state ben­e­fits. And these changes are hit­ting at a time when state unem­ploy­ment web­sites are crash­ing and fil­ers are fac­ing hours-​long hold times.

But the bot­tom line is this: If you are out of work (or under­em­ployed) for any rea­son relat­ing to COVID-​19, you should file an appli­ca­tion for ben­e­fits with your state’s unem­ploy­ment agency right away. Just pre­pare to be persistent.

Filed Under: Unemployment Benefits Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19

About Lisa Guerin

Lisa Guerin has covered employment law topics for Legal Consumer since 2014. After getting her law degree from Berkeley Law, she worked in government, public interest, and private practice, specializing in employment law. She was a legal editor and author at Nolo for many years, where she wrote or contributed to more than a dozen books, mostly on employment issues. She volunteers with groups that help shelter and rescue dogs, and she enjoys hiking with her own Very Good Boy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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