Business Owners Can Qualify for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

Dueños de Negocios Pueden Calificar para Asistencia de Desempleo Pandémico (PUA)

Bảo Hiểm Thất Nghiệp Dành Cho Doanh Nghiệp (PUA) & Việc Mở Cửa Hoạt Động Trở Lại Dành Cho Doanh Nghiệp

企業主有資格獲得重新開業疫情大流行性失業救濟（PUA）

企业主有资格获得大流行性失业援助（PUA)

5/22/20

Dear Business Owner, Manager, Representative:

If you aren’t yet among those able to reopen their businesses, don’t forget that you may be able to receive unemployment benefits while you prepare to return to work.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

Business owners including independent contractors and those who are self employed may apply for unemployment benefits through UI Online (fastest), or by phone, email, or fax. In order to apply, you will need the following information:

Information about your employment history
Right-to-Work documentation. (De Anza, Catholic Charities, and Betancourt Foundation have resources for undocumented individuals)

The amount that you will receive through the program varies based on income, but will be at least $767 during the weeks of 3/29 through 7/25 because of a $600 temporary increase. Your claim can be backdated to an earlier date based on your last day of work so that you can receive payments from before your submission date.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance webpage and the accompanying Frequently Asked Questions page provides additional details about the program. Locally, COVID-19 Assistance Navigation offers phone assistance at (408) 809-2124 to supplement EDD call lines.

Timing on Reopening

Governor Newsom has created a resilience roadmap outlining four stages of reopening of the California economy and the requirements for doing so. Local conditions will dictate the speed at which the opening will take place so the most current information on allowable businesses here is provided by Santa Clara County. Check the County Variance Information to see what businesses are allowed to open in counties with lower rates of disease transmission to anticipate when businesses in Santa Clara County will be able to open. The roadmap also provides Industry Guidance to Reduce Risk so that businesses can better understand how they may open safely.

Preparing for Reopening

While you are waiting to reopen under the law, consider:

Understanding the Santa Clara County Health Department’s May 18 Order and the Social Distancing Protocol for safe operations.
Making or revising a Small Business Survival Plan for COVID-19.
Researching guidance from trade associations about their recommendations on safely reopening and what you can do to be profitable under the “new normal.” For instance:
restaurants could look at the California Restaurant Association
nail salons might see what is offered at the International SPA Association,
hair stylists could see what information is available at the Professional Beauty Association.
Reviewing what your industry’s regulations are during the pandemic. In addition to California industry guidance and Cal/OSHA, many industries have additional oversight.
Connecting with the SBDC, AnewAmerica, MBDA, SCORE, SSTB and other BusinessOwnerSpace.com partners offering free, local business assistance to get you through the pandemic with topics including pivoting, access to capital, marketing and much more.

With best wishes for your health and the success of your business,

Office of Economic Development Team

This information is available in the following languages: English , Español , Tiếng Việt , 繁體中文 , 中文简体 .

The City of San Jose wants you and your employees to have important information about the COVID-19 pandemic and is sending this email to the emergency contact address that you gave the City when your business registered in the San Jose tax system or that you provided later. If you would like to receive these notices at an additional address you can subscribe to one or more of the following distributions:

BusinessOwnerSpace.com Notices – Small businesses can keep informed about workshops and other services offered by over 30 small business assistance organization programs through this subscription.
SJ Economy Notices – The City of San Jose Office of Economic Development sends out a regular notice about issues of interest to San Jose businesses
City of San Jose COVID-19 Flash Reports – Updates and announcements from the City of San Jose about COVID-19 are distributed in the morning and late afternoon to subscribers.

Past distributions about COVID-19 can be found here:

Here are other pandemic-related resources:

Santa Clara County Public Health
Small Business Administration
City of San Jose's COVID-19 Business webpage
City of San Jose's emergency notifications webpage

Office of Economic Development | City of San José