Washington State Self-Employed Unemployment COVID Cluster-F

April 10, 2020 10:08 PM

Within a week -- like a lot of us -- I lost two of my main freelance jobs. How to proceed through the clusterf_ck of everyone filing? I'ven been self-employed for 25 years.

Where do self-employed people even apply and what is needed to file? How long to get benefits?

Has anyone from the Meta-hive forged this already in Washington? Any hot tips?

posted by zenpop to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I turned a resource guide with instructions for this into a PowerPoint just this afternoon, so yes! See page 3 of the resource guide here, and look at the small business section if that also applies to you.
posted by centrifugal at 12:11 AM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’m also self-employed and have already lost 50% of my freelance work. A friend shared info on the SBA Paycheck Protection Program for 1099 contractors. I applied yesterday and am waiting to hear from whichever local bank is assigned. Another business colleague applied for that and a Disaster Loan Assistance.

I know there have been issues with the rollout, but the initial application process was quick and straight forward.
posted by icaicaer at 5:23 AM on April 11, 2020

Response by poster: Damn, thank you icaicaer -- I figured someone in the hive here would be onto something like this. Appreciate it!
posted by zenpop at 10:15 AM on April 11, 2020