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Change in Income,  Enhanced Silver (Cost Sharing Reductions)? * 

See if you are lucky and can find a special enrollment reason to re-enroll for coverage

#EDDWebpage on

Disability & Unemployment Benefits 

The federal government will pay the full salaries of furloughed workers who make average wages for up to four months under an emerging stimulus deal  ^{The HIll} –  Click this link to Learn More 

If you can’t work because of the quarantine, not that you are ill or that you are, check out the official EDD Webpage.

Reduced Work Hours

If your employer has reduced your hours or shut down operations due to COVID-19, you can file an Unemployment Insurance (UI) claim. UI provides partial wage replacement benefit payments to workers who lose their job or have their hours reduced, through no fault of their own. Workers who are temporarily unemployed due to COVID-19 and expected to return to work with their employer within a few weeks are not required to actively seek work each week. However, they must remain able and available and ready to work during their unemployment for each week of benefits claimed and meet all other eligibility criteria. Eligible individuals can receive benefits that range from $40-$450 per week.

The California  Governor’s Executive Order waives the one-week unpaid waiting period, so you can collect UI benefits for the first week you are out of work. If you are eligible, the EDD processes and issues payments within a few weeks of receiving a claim. ^{EDD Coronavirus} *

LA Times on how to file 

3.8 Million filed last week, 30 million total COVID 19

Technical Website PROBLEMS  Issues – sounds like Health Care . Gov and Covered CA websites 

Problems for 1099 & Gig workers if they have W – 2 employee income  LA Times

CA will start sending $900 retroactive for the $300/week after the $600/week ended to those unemployed due to COVID  9.7.2020

FAQ’s

on EDD Website 

Unemployment Benefits under CARES Act – #Stimulus Package

The bill makes unemployment pay 100 percent of what people would earn on the job and, in some circumstances, they can get more money for not returning to work when the economy is back up.  Quirk in law would allow some employees to earn more $$$ for working less – read more in the LA Times.

Consider $600 a week is the pay before taxes for an employee who works 40 hours a week at $15 an hour, or 30 hours a week at $20 an hour. So not working will pay that person the $600 federal benefit on top of the regular benefit that CA provides.  So it is $600 a week if you work, and $900 a week if you do not. For the minimum wage person who makes $400 a week, the effect is more extreme. The unemployment program will pay more than twice as much as working. Benefits do max out at different levels in different states but, in most, even an employee who makes $800 a week can make about $200 more on this unemployment than working. * ^{The Hill} *

Under the CARES Act, employees may delay going back to work, businesses could feel more comfortable laying off people, and workers may be incentivized to quit their jobs or volunteer to be laid off

Unemployment benefits also aren’t subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes (7.65% total) and in many states aren’t subject to state and local tax — meaning unemployment pay is arguably worth more than typical wages, * ^CNBC *  ^{National Employment Law Project} * ^{Los Angeles Times 4.9.2020} *

So, it looks like to get the Federal Benefits, you can just apply through the State of CA.

Under the new CARES Act responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, all states will be allowed to provide up to 13 additional weeks of federally funded extended benefits to people who exhaust their regular state benefits.

Under the Act, through the end of this year, people who exhaust both regular and extended benefits, and many others who have lost their jobs for reasons arising from the pandemic but who are not normally eligible for UI in their state, are eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. People can receive a maximum of 39 weeks of benefits this year from all three sources combined. ^CBPP.org

Program ends July 31, 2020, LA Times on if it will be extended.

See FAQ about if you can get the extra $600 if you are on SDI 

Resources

Employment Resources

• Labor and Workforce Development Agency – Resources for employers and workers including workers’ compensation and paid sick leave.
• Labor Commissioner’s Office FAQs – Employee leave options, compensation, and salary.
• Department of Fair Employment and Housing – Job protection and employment discrimination.
• Washington Post – Paid Sick Leave
• EDD pamphlet on unemployment and SDI benefits

Health Resources

• California Department of Public Health
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• World Health Organization
• FAQ from Website visitor on options to keep her health insurance, with no or less income.

See our webpage on how unemployment compensation  & Disability gets counted for MAGI Income under Covered CA subsidies, get quotes.  Appoint us as your agent.

People who have lost work have options.

As businesses close down and the economy rapidly contracts, millions of people are losing their jobs or seeing their hours get slashed. If you’ve lost your job or had your hours reduced, here are some of your options.

• File for unemployment. Here’s how.
• File for paid sick leave. The government expanded who is eligible for paid sick leave due to the pandemic. Here’s how to find out if you’re eligible, and how to apply.
• Seek industry-specific resources. If you lost your job in the entertainment industry or the restaurant industry, there are special resources being made available. Here are the resources for unemployed entertainment workers, and here are the resources for unemployed restaurant workers.
• Find work you can do online. Teaching English, writing and editing, tutoring, working as a virtual assistant — there are more opportunities than ever to find jobs that only require an internet connection. The site SideHusl.com evaluates and reviews money-making opportunities in the gig economy, including remote work.
  • SkipTheDrive is a free curated job board for telecommuters.
  • VIPKid, Qkids and Magic Ears all hire native English speakers to teach Chinese students conversation skills after dinner and on weekends — Beijing time.
  • Wyzant, Varsity Tutors and Chelsea International Education all offer to connect tutors with students.
  • If you teach art, dance, drama or music, you can tutor online through LessonFace and TakeLessons. The sites Contently, Skyword and Cracked offer paid writing gigs, and Reedsy has work for editors.
  • You can find virtual assistant work through Boldly or Belay.
  • Working Not Working finds positions for digital creatives in advertising, film, and web and game design.
  • FreeUp is a marketplace where all sorts of professionals — content creators, accountants, marketing experts, web developers and administrators — can find work that pays $10 to $75 an hour.
  • Work at Home Vintage Experts, or Wahve, connects seasoned executives in insurance, human resources and accounting with small businesses that need regular help. ^{Los Angeles Times} *

Check out Special Enrollment -
Change in Income,  Enhanced Silver (Cost Sharing Reductions)? * 

See if you are lucky and can find a special enrollment reason to re-enroll for coverage