work and COVID-19 info

Here’s info on work and COVID-19 you may find helpful.

Unemployment Benefits

The U.S. now has major new unemployment benefits, significantly expanding who can collect unemployment, for how long, and how much you’ll receive. Benefits will last longer and are now available to people who in the past didn’t qualify for them, including independent contractors, freelancers, gig workers, and other self-employed people, plus part-time workers and people who don’t have a long-enough work history to otherwise qualify.

Read more here:
answers to your questions about the new unemployment benefits law

if your hours have been cut, you can collect unemployment benefits

Sick Leave

An emergency law has expanded family and medical leave — and it’s paid. The new law only applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees and some public agencies. If you’re at a covered company, you are eligible for paid sick leave if you’re unable to work because you’re quarantined, experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis, need to care for someone subject to quarantine, or need to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed for reasons related to COVID-19.

Update: Congress allowed this law to expire at the end of 2020 and providing this sick leave is now voluntary for employers, not required. You can read more about the original law here, and its end.

Other Helpful Info

what to do if your company is making you return to your office before it feels safe

if you have a disability, do employers have to let you keep working from home after they re-open?

here is your script if you need to check on a job you haven’t started yet

things your employer can do during the outbreak that they can’t do normally

what’s reasonable for managers to expect of parents working from home?

you won’t need to explain your current work gap

the CDC’s guidelines for re-opening offices

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