Commerford Legal

Self-employed, independent contractors, and business owners - Didn't qualify for unemployment benefits? Pandemic Unemployment Assistance may help! California is implementing a new benefits program as a part of the Federal CARES Act Pandemic Additional Compensation program, which will be accepting applications starting APRIL 28. You may be entitled to up to 39 weeks of benefits beginning February 2, 2020, through the week ending December 31, 2020, depending on when you became... directly impacted by the pandemic. You may also be eligible for an additional $600 to each PUA weekly benefit amount. More info here: https://www.edd.ca.gov//pandemic-unemployment-assistance.h

What should you do if someone in your family is sick and you have to miss work to care for them? If you’re unable to work because you are caring for an ill or quarantined family member with COVID-19, you should file a Paid Family Leave (PFL) claim with the EDD. PFL provides up to six weeks (this extends to eight weeks starting July 1) of benefit payments to eligible workers who have a full or partial loss of wages because they need time off work to care for a seriously ill f...amily member or to bond with a new child. For the purposes of PFL coverage, a family member is defined as seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner.

Your rights to paid sick leave during the pandemic: If you work for an employer with 500 or fewer employees, you are entitled to two weeks [80 hours] of Emergency Paid Sick Leave. If taking emergency paid sick leave to care for yourself, you are paid 100% your full rate of pay, up to $511 per day [$5,110 total]. When leave is taken to care for others or for other qualifying reasons, you are paid two-thirds of your full rate of pay, up to $200 per day [$2,000 total]. This l...eave is in addition to any other paid leave to which you are already entitled to. Your employer cannot require that regular sick leave or paid time off be used before, or instead of, using this emergency sick leave. [If your employer has 50 or less employees, they may be exempt from these requirements.]

Lost your health insurance due to being laid off or furloughed? Federal and California COBRA laws require employers with at least two employees to offer continuation of the employer-sponsored health plan for up to 36 months at the same monthly rate your employer paid for the premium. Laid off employees can also choose to enroll in a health plan offered through Covered California, where subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act may offer less expensive coverage than the employer’s COBRA plan. The Special Enrollment Period to enroll in a plan through Covered California lasts 60 days from losing job-based coverage. Due to the emergency, special enrollment is open for all Californians until June 30, 2020.

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