While millions out of work American citizens have been receiving $600 each week in federal Pandemic Unemployment assistance, due to a flaw in the CARES Act, many with mixed income across staff employment and freelance gigs have been prevented from receiving state unemployment benefits based on the full scope of their earnings. Now, a new Congressional bill aims to change that.
Introduced on Monday (July 20) by U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff and Judy Chu (both D-CA) and co-sponsored by 19 others, the Mixed Earner Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Act would allow individuals who derive much of their income from freelance work – a group that includes the majority of independent music workers – to opt into the freelancer-focused Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which offers state unemployment benefits to freelance workers for the first time in U.S. history.
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