Fact check: Newsom didn’t mention that jobless payments for self-employed will come in phases
Gov. Gavin Newsom promised quick payments for anguished constituents from a new program funded by Congress aimed at instantly helping people not eligible for regular unemployment insurance who lost their jobs or faced cutbacks because of the coronavirus outbreak.
But he didn’t say the initial payments would be only minimum amounts, and the rest would come later.
Newsom pledged at an April 15 news conference that “instead of just putting out applications and having people wait weeks and weeks and weeks for eligibility and for notification around the distribution of payments, we are organized in a very deliberative process in real time to set up our PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) system in a way where we can turn around checks within 24 to 48 hours.”
A press release from the governor’s office the same day added that “PUA benefits will be issued within 24-48 hours — not the traditional 21 days for regular UI (unemployment insurance) claims,” the release said.
But the initial payments going out under the PUA program are minimum payments of $167 a week, plus $600 that’s payable to those out of work between March 29 and July 25.
The rest of the money that could be due, as much as a total of $450 a week, will be paid retroactively at a time that has not yet been announced.
Loree Levy, spokesman for the Employment Development Department, explained this week to The Sacramento Bee that “around-the-clock efforts continue to bring up that second phase of this PUA benefit effort just as quickly as possible. We will continue to provide updates as more details become available.”
PUA was created to provide benefits for people not eligible for regular unemployment insurance and who are unable or unavailable to work because of coronavirus-related issues.
They include the self-employed, gig workers, independent contractors and others who remain unemployed or partly employed due to the coronavirus, as well as people who have exhausted their regular benefits.
Since the coronavirus outbreak in March, jobless claims in the state have reached never-before-seen levels, straining what EDD could handle with its current staff and antiquated computer systems. An estimated 3.7 million California workers have filed initial claims since mid-March.
EDD has scrambled to adapt. In addition to a new phone line, it has been updating its s Frequently Asked Questions site, and last week suspended a requirement for unemployed workers to certify their job status every two weeks.
Tuesday, the EDD launched a new web program to help smooth the process for consumers. It’s a one-stop place where people can get information about how and where to apply for help.
Newsom’s press office referred The Bee’s questions about the state’s unemployment efforts to the state Labor & Workforce Development Agency.
At Newsom’s April 15 news conference, department Secretary Julie Su explained that once people applied for PUA starting on April 28, “you will be able to certify the next day and we are going to be turning around payments within 24 to 48 hours.”
She elaborated: “So those first payments should be out by April 30th. I know many of you have been waiting for that.”
Su spoke about how payment would be retroactive if necessary, meaning people can receive payments if they were unemployed due to Covid-19 dating back to the first week of February.
On April 24, Su conducted a Facebook Live chat and gave more details.
Those getting the PUA payments “will get the minimum payment like everybody else for now. We will go back and make up the difference if you were entitled to the minimum,” Su said.
Levy told The Bee that “the goal was to provide access to the new PUA program established in the federal CARES Act just as quickly as possible knowing that there are so many people in need of this new unemployment assistance,” and that’s why the agency is sending out the initial minimum payments.” The CARES Act was the federal $2.2 trillion economic aid package approved March 27.
On the Facebook chat, Su talked about “Phase 2” of the PUA payment schedule, without citing a timeline. “I know this is not ideal,” she said. “I know that people are suffering.”
The agency is working to expedite the payments, she said. “What we are trying to do is both balance speed on top of a system that I mentioned is inflexible and not nearly as quick to build on as we would like,” Su said.
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