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Self-Employed, Contract Workers Can Now Collect Unemployment
Self-Employed, Contract Workers Can Now Collect Unemployment

Self-Employed, Contract Workers Can Now Collect Unemployment

The recently passed stimulus bill creates a new program to provide unemployment insurance to Santa Clarita contract workers and the self-employed.

The new stimulus bill, passed by Congress and signed by the president, is set to increase unemployment insurance benefits for all recipients by $600 per week for four months, as well as expand eligibility to include workers who were previously exempt, according to the legislation.

The plan extends unemployment insurance benefits to cover contractors, the self-employed and certain nonprofit/government employees who are not typically eligible.

“This is one of the first times I’ve seen self-employed have benefits; it’s great,” said Santa Clarita lawyer Louis Esbin. “But this is an evolving situation and there are some details that have yet to be ironed out by the state.”

Typically, for workers to receive unemployment benefits, they need to have worked for an employer who paid into the state’s unemployment insurance fund. Contract workers and the self-employed usually do not pay into this fund and have therefore been ineligible in the past.

If, when, and for how long contractors and the self-employed will have to pay into the fund to make up for their coronavirus-related claims is uncertain, according to Esbin.

These provisions are part of a new program called the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program.

The bill also eliminates the one-week waiting period that most states have for recipients of unemployment insurance benefits and adds an additional 13 weeks of benefits beyond state limits.

You can file a claim or check eligibility on the website for the Employment Development Department.


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Self-Employed, Contract Workers Can Now Collect Unemployment

One comment

  1. Can I collect unemployment benefits if I am self employed and collecting social security benefits

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About Elliott Keegan