KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many people in Missouri and Kansas still are waiting to receive unemployment benefits, including those who are self-employed.
Some could qualify for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), but must meet certain criteria.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Anna Hui, director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said that to access PUA, residents must first file for regular unemployment benefits and be determined ineligible before filing for PUA.
After being determined ineligible, residents will receive a notice that states they are not an insured worker. One of the following eligibility requirements must also be met:
- Be diagnosed with COVID-19, or seeking a diagnosis for symptoms of the virus.
- Someone in the household was diagnosed with COVID-19.
- Be a caretaker to a family member or someone in the household who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
- Be the primary caretaker for a child who is not able to attend school or other facilities that have closed due to COVID-19.
- Be unable to go to work due to COVID-19-related quarantine.
- Be unable to go to work because a health care provider has instructed that the individual self-quarantine due to COVID-19.
- Scheduled to begin a job, but is now unable to do so because of COVID-19.
- Be the primary supporter of the household after the previous primary supporter died from COVID-19.
- Had to quit a job because of COVID-19.
- The person’s employer closed due to COVID-19.
- Be an independent contractor who is not employed, “partially unemployed” or not able to work due to COVID-19.
Those who qualify for PUA will be eligible to receive payments between $133 and $320 per week, in addition to the $600 federal supplement available through the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.
Hui also said that employees who might not feel safe returning to work, and choose not to, will lose their unemployment benefits. The Department of Labor is working on a portal for employers to submit information about employees who refuse to return to work.
More information can be found on the Missouri Department of Labor website.