Farmers may be eligible for unemployment benefits

armers who are facing loss of income directly due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have the unprecedented opportunity to collect unemployment insurance benefits.

Falling into the category of self-employed, farmers and ranchers have historically been ineligible for unemployment insurance, but the CARES Act, signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, has opened the possibility, said Rachel Armstrong, founder and executive director of Farm Commons, which provides legal services to farmers, during a webinar.

“This is a big change,” Armstrong said. “Disaster assistance in some ways has always been available to the self-employed, but that has been a very narrow utilization of the program. Never has it been so broadly available to those who are self-employed.”

Farms and ranches are specifically included in the expansion of unemployment insurance to the self-employed as potentially eligible for benefits, Armstrong said.

Because of the recency of the legislation, “there’s still a lot of things we don’t know about how this program is going to be administered and including how it works with other government resources that are being made available,” Armstrong said.

For a farmer to be eligible to receive benefits, farming must be their principle occupation, Armstrong said, not just a side job or hobby.

Here is an excerpt from the Dept of Labor UIPL 16-20, which gives the states directions for eligibility:

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance” means the compensation payable under section 2102 of the Act and is referred to as PUA.

Important program dates. PUA is payable for weeks of unemployment, partial unemployment, or inability to work caused by the COVID-19 related reasons listed above beginning on or after January 27, 2020. PUA is not payable for any week of unemployment ending after December 31, 2020. Accordingly, in states where the week of unemployment ends on a Saturday, the last week that PUA may be paid is the week ending December 26, 2020. For states where the week of unemployment ends on a Sunday, the last week that PUA is payable is the week ending December 27, 2020.

Operating Instructions:
Eligibility. For purposes of PUA coverage, an individual “lacking sufficient work history” means an individual:
(1) with a recent attachment to the labor force
(2) who does not have sufficient wages in covered employment during the last 18 months to establish a claim under regular UC, and
(3) who became unemployed or partially unemployed because of one of the COVID-19 related reasons identified under Section 2102. Demonstration of a recent attachment to the labor force for PUA coverage purposes also includes individuals who had a bona fide offer to start working on a specific date and were unable to start due to one of the COVID-19 related reasons identified under Section 2102.

“Self-employed individuals” as defined in 20 C.F.R 625.2(n) means individuals whose primary reliance for income is on the performance of services in the individual’s own business, or on the individual’s own farm. These individuals include independent contractors, gig economy workers, and workers for certain religious entities.

PUA is generally not payable to individuals who have the ability to telework with pay, or who are receiving paid sick leave or other paid leave benefits. However, an individual receiving paid sick leave or other paid leave benefits for less than his or her customary work week may still be eligible for a reduced PUA WBA.

Similarly, if an individual has been offered the option of teleworking with pay and does telework with pay, but is working less than the individual customarily worked prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, the individual may be eligible for a reduced PUA WBA. Income from such work would be treated in accordance with the income restrictions set out in DUA at 20 C.F.R. 625.13.

To be a “covered individual” under PUA, an individual must also self-certify that he or she is otherwise able to work and available for work, as provided under state law, except that the individual is unemployed, partially unemployed, unable to work or unavailable for work due to at least one of the following categories described below.

a) The individual has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking a medical diagnosis. Examples may include:
• An individual who has to quit his or her job as a direct result of COVID-19 because the individual has tested positive for the coronavirus or has been diagnosed with COVID-19 by a qualified medical professional, and continuing work activities, such as through telework, is not possible by virtue of such diagnosis or condition;
• An individual who has to quit his or her job due to coming in direct contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus or has been diagnosed by a medical professional as having COVID-19, and, on the advice of a qualified medical health professional is required to resign from his or her position in order to quarantine.

b) A member of the individual’s household has been diagnosed with COVID-19. For example: a member of the individual’s household has been diagnosed as having COVID-19 by a qualified medical professional or a member of the individual’s household has tested positive for COVID-19 and the individual is unable to work as a result.

c) The individual is providing care for a family member or a member of the individual’s household who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. For example: an individual is “providing care” for a family member or a member of the individual’s household if the provision of care requires such ongoing and constant attention that the individual’s ability to perform other work functions is severely limited. An individual who is assisting a family member who is able to adequately care for him or herself is not “providing care” under this category.

d) A child or other person in the household for which the individual has primary caregiving responsibility is unable to attend school or another facility that is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency and such school or facility care is required for the individual to work. For example: an individual has “primary caregiving responsibility” for a child or other person in the household if he or she is required to remain at home to care for the child or other person.
This includes an individual whose job allows for telework, but for whom the provision of care to the child or other person with a closed school or other facility requires such ongoing and constant attention that it is not possible for the individual to perform work at home.

e) The individual is unable to reach the place of employment because of a quarantine imposed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. For example: an individual who is unable to reach his or her place of employment because doing so would require the violation of a state or municipal order restricting travel that was instituted to combat the spread of COVID-19.

f)The individual is unable to reach the place of employment because the individual has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19. Examples include: an individual who has been advised by a qualified medical professional that he or she may be infected with the coronavirus and that he or she therefore should self-quarantine.

For example, an individual had direct contact with another person who has tested positive for the coronavirus or been diagnosed with COVID-19 by a qualified medical professional, and is advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine to prevent further possible spread of the virus. Such circumstances would render the individual unable to reach his or her place of employment.

Or, An individual whose immune system is compromised by virtue of a serious health condition and is therefore advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine in order to avoid the greater-than-average health risks that the individual might face if he or she were to become infected by the coronavirus.

g) The individual was scheduled to commence employment and does not have a job or is unable to reach the job as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. For example: an individual is unable to reach his or her job because doing so would require the violation of a state or municipal order restricting travel that was instituted to combat the spread of the coronavirus or the employer has closed the place of employment. Or, an individual does not have a job because the employer with whom the individual was scheduled to commence employment has rescinded the job offer as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

h) The individual has become the breadwinner or major support for a household because the head of the household has died as a direct result of COVID-19. For example: an individual whose head of household previously contributed the majority of financial support to the household died as a direct result of COVID-19, and the individual is now the person in the household expected to provide such financial support.

i) The individual has to quit his or her job as a direct result of COVID-19. For example: an individual was diagnosed with COVID-19 by a qualified medical professional, and although the individual no longer has COVID-19, the illness caused health complications that render the individual objectively unable to perform his or her essential job functions, with or without a reasonable accommodation.

j) The individual’s place of employment is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. For example, if a business is shut down due to an emergency declaration or due to necessary social distancing protocols, the unemployment of individuals who worked in the business would be considered a direct result of COVID-19.

k) The individual meets any additional criteria established by the Secretary for unemployment assistance under this section.
• The Secretary has determined that, in addition to individuals who qualify for benefits under the other criteria described above, an individual who works as an independent contractor with reportable income may also qualify for PUA benefits if he or she is unemployed, partially employed, or unable or unavailable to work because the COVID-19 public health emergency has severely limited his or her ability to continue performing his or her customary work activities, and has thereby forced the individual to suspend such activities.

For example, a driver for a ridesharing service who receives an IRS Form 1099 from the ride sharing service may not be eligible for PUA benefits under the other criteria outlined above, because such an individual does not have a “place of employment,” and thus cannot claim that he or she is unable to work because his or her place of employment has closed. However, under the additional eligibility criterion established by the Secretary here, the driver may still qualify for PUA benefits if he or she has been forced to suspend operations as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as if an emergency state or municipal order restricting movement makes continued operations unsustainable.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.