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hello my name is MIA Duggan's and I am the business issues policy representative at the National Association of Realtors today we're going to talk about the pandemic unemployment assistance program which is a newly created program under the the cares Act which passed on March 27th of this year the cares Act is the largest stimulus package that we've seen in our nation's history providing over 2.2 trillion dollars in relief to families businesses and business owners and to healthcare workers under the cares Act independent contractors and self-employed individuals are now eligible to receive unemployment benefits the benefits are offered under the pandemic unemployment assistance program which is fully administered by States but fully funded by the federal government this means that in order to apply for these benefits individuals must apply in their respective states and must apply through the state unemployment office the benefits are available for up to 39 weeks for eligible individuals and full or partial benefits are available for individuals who are either unable or unavailable to work due to the pandemic public health crisis state unemployment offices will make individual eligibility determination and individuals will be required to provide these state unemployment offices with information regarding verification of income as well as other business documents showing that the individuals are self employed and also have been unemployed due to the Cova 19 public health crisis many states are up and running but we understand that some states are not able to offer these benefits just yet because they are challenged with technology in working to develop the infrastructure for this particular program as well as understanding the clarity and guidance that has been issued from the Department of Labor the US Department of Labor did offer guidance to States with in about a week and a half after the Care Act passed however states have struggled to understand how to roll out this program and so this is also causing some delays for more information about this program you can visit Nara realtor forward slash coronavirus youie to find out more about na RS efforts and advocating to ensure that self-employed individuals and independent contractors were part of the stimulus relief they are successfully advocated to ensure that realtors were a part of this package however there are some delays in ensuring that the benefits do reach individual business owners owners as well as realtors so we're working to ensure that we provide the greatest resource in terms of information and guidance on how to apply for these benefits today I'm joined by two experts from Jones day and also two realtor members so that we can take a deeper dive into understanding pandemic unemployment assistance benefits and how they can apply to you I am joined by natalia de Lune and Jonathan Linus taught labor and employment lawyers from the law firm Jones day who will provide us with more information about unemployment benefits and the pandemic unemployment assistance program Natalia is a partner at Jones Day and has more than nine years of experience counseling and representing companies in all aspects of federal and state employment law her covers a wide range of matters including but not limited to wage and hour compliance employer discrimination employee mobility issues and Family and Medical Leave Act issue jonathan is also a partner at Jones Day who works on a broad range of labor and employment matters he has a special expertise working on joint employer issues impacting franchisees wage and hour class actions and other litigation matters before the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission thank you both for joining us here today thank you it's good to be here thank you let's start with the basics of how states are administering these benefits and recent actions across the country hi John how's it going it's going well Mia how are you good doing well can you briefly explain how unemployment benefits work there is no federal program correct and they are traditionally only available to w2 employees paid by an employment tax assessed on employer correct yeah you know Mia it's interesting most people think of unemployment as a state program actually though it's a joint program of the federal government and each individual state government the benefits as you noted are administered at the state level however there are some basic baseline rules that are established by federal law but beyond those rules the states really have flexibility to decide for example who's eligible for unemployment how those benefits are calculated the amount of the benefits that applicants will receive what's required in the application process in other things of that nature so let's talk for just a quick minute about how unemployment that's work as a rule of thumb it employee will qualify for what we'll call traditional unemployment benefits to separate it from the cares Act benefits that we're going to talk about today if the qualify for traditional unemployment benefits if they're unemployed through no fault of their own in most states that means the employee was separated from their job because there wasn't work available to be eligible an employee also has to be available for and looking for work and the employee has to establish that they worked for a certain period of time and made a certain amount of money before becoming unemployed as you noted earlier the specific requirements will vary from state to state as you mentioned in nearly all states traditional unemployment benefits are available only to employees who receive a w-2 from their employer not to people who are self-employed or independent contractors in Washington and maybe a few other states certain self-employed workers and independent contractors may be eligible for traditional unemployment benefits but the states will evaluate that on a case-by-case basis micariff Act Congress expanded access to employment benefits and outlined that for states to offer these benefits to offer these new PUA benefits they must first sign an agreement with the Department of Labor have all states signed this agreement and how is this expansion going in the state DOL has issued numerous advisories to help participating States but why is it taking a bit longer to get these benefits out the door yeah that's correct yeah so the cares Act adds pandemic unemployment assistance or PUA in addition to the traditional unemployment benefits that the states offer PUA provides benefits to independent contractors and self-employed individuals like Realtors who may not otherwise be eligible for traditional benefits as you spend the full horror being able to obtain funding for PUA benefits from the federal government states have to end into an agreement with the federal government most states announced that they entered into these agreements soon after the Kerr's Act passed the agreements aren't publicly available so we can't really check but we expect that nearly all if not all states have entered into these agreements by now we know of 20 states that have already begun paying out PUA benefits now the rollout of PUA benefits in the States has not been smooth the program was put together quickly so states had to develop their own application forms from scratch they had to train their staff on the new eligibility rules quickly they had to figure out for example what documentation independent contractors and self-employed applicants would need to establish to prove their income and their past employment and ultimately they were just understaffed to administer the amount of benefits applications they receive and I think you know as was publicized various agency websites even crashed so while we have on one hand some states that have issued really helpful guidance have made these benefits available and have you know PUA specific applications for benefits we have other states that are still trying to figure out even how to administer these new programs and they have a huge backlog of applications in this latter category some of these states are you know asking applicants to reapply for PUA benefits at a later date others are asking PUA applicants to file you know a regular request for traditional benefits and then participate in a phone interview later to you know collect the information that's needed in the PUA forever so you know given the wide variety of progress we're seeing in different states people who are thinking of applying for Pui really need to visit their state's unemployment website you know for the guidance that's necessary to apply thank you John for that information very valuable information hi Natalia how are you I'm doing great thank you Nia how are you good thanks joining us today let's now dive into the application process and what realtors should know when applying for unemployment thanks to na RS advocacy efforts the cares Act expansion of unemployment eligibility included independent contractors who traditionally have not had access to such benefits walk us through the application process for example call self employed real estate professional including where to apply the qualifications to meet under the cares act necessary documentation and how this may vary based on state sure absolutely so as John just touched on even though PUA is a creation of the federal cares act PUA applicants must still apply for benefits at their state level in their particular state so for each real estate professional who is applying they should be applying for benefits in the state in which they work you know many people work in more than one state and so you and that situation would apply for benefits and in any of those states the state of your choosing in which you worked the states that are ready to process PUA claims will provide a link to the unemployment application that you should be using so as John mentioned you should check the unemployment agencies website for that particular application another option to navigate to the right place is careeronestop org which is a website run by the Department of Labor it's a great resource to find what you're looking for as a self-employed person or independent contractor as we know from what John was saying not all states are quite ready to process PUA claims California for example began accepting applications just a couple of days ago Ohio will begin processing them in early to mid May and in Ohio individuals are encouraged to pre-register for example so you know check your state and of independent contractors and self-employed individuals qualify for PA they are unemployed or partially unemployed directly because of kovat nineteen related reasons the type of reasons that trigger qualification include things like you yourself are diagnosed with Kovac someone in your household has been diagnosed with kovat the individual has primary caregiving responsibilities but schools are closed or the individual does not have a job as a direct result of kovat those eligible for traditional benefits under you know the normal state law regime are not eligible for PA guidance issued by the federal Department of Labor just this week emphasizes this by telling the states that they have to verify whether an applicant would be eligible for traditional benefits before they're able to approve PUA benefits and this makes sense because as you discussed in the beginning the federal government is footing the entire bill for PUA benefits unlike for traditional benefits which which are through the state as you're applying you'll applicants will be asked to certify that they're out of work through no fault of their own that they're generally able and available to work they will be asked to provide proof of income over the past 12 to 18 month time frame they may also be asked to provide their employer ID number if available if applicable to you or their social security number and other contact information the business name they operate under or that they are self employed or an independent contractor as to proof of wages we'll talk about that a little bit more later but 1099 forms are great or pay stubs they'll also be asked for direct deposit information so that the state can pay benefits directly that way it could take the agency several weeks to process the application so be aware of that and once once it's processed applicants will receive a written notification of approval or of denial of benefits and as well as the weekly benefit amount that the person is eligible usually that comes through the mail but it could also come through an online portal depending on your state you also have the instructions will tell you how you recertify each week to make sure you continue to get the benefits each week if your state hasn't posted instructions on on these aspects of the application we suggest continuing to check regularly every day new states are posting new guidance or changing their guidance so it doesn't hurt to just continue checking also for a great example of how the PUA application process works step-by-step the state of tennessee published an instructional video regarding the application process and weekly certification required in that state so even if you're not in Tennessee it could be helpful to see firsthand you know what the application process looks like Thank You Natalia for that information do you can you speak to whether self employed individuals and independent contractors must first apply in their state for regular unemployment and then be denied prior to being eligible for pandemic unemployment assistance this is a question that we've received quite frequently from a lot of members and how does this application step vary by state up to its thumb but could you elaborate just a little bit more for us please sure um it's a great question and the answer is it does vary by state some states are currently requiring self-employed people and independent contractors to first apply as though they were applying for traditional unemployment benefits have their claim denied and then in that denial letter you know receive instructions on how they should apply for PUA this is currently the case for example in Virginia Washington DC and New York among other states and then you have kind of the other category of states that are just more advanced in this in this area already states like Massachusetts have created an entirely separate application process designed for PUA benefits in states like that you know you wouldn't have to first apply for traditional benefits to then get a denial and then apply for PA so the states that have moved more quickly and efficiently to design their PUA specific program they're typically the ones that also have clear and detailed instructions applicants can you also now speak to what if an applicant for example an independent contractor or a self-employed individual has not filed their 2019 taxes or if they have jointly filed with the spouse who may or may not still be working during this pandemic sure so as we know when applying for benefits you'll be asked to provide documentation of your earnings this is because the weekly benefit for eligibility purposes and also to determine the weekly benefit amount which will depend largely on 2019 income so if a real estate professional has not yet filed their 2019 taxes it's okay they they will receive at the very least the minimum weekly benefit amount under the cares Act PUA program this is equal this is a specific number for each state it's equal to fifty percent of the state's average weekly traditional unemployment payment that number it varies by state and by quarter so the Department of Labor publishes a quarterly program letter that lists each state's average weekly benefit amount and the 50% calculation that will apply to PD way the most recent program letter is from just this March and it's in place from April through June 2020 and so just kind of by way of example the current minimum amount in Texas is two hundred and eight dollars per week the range is somewhere between one hundred and thirteen and two hundred and thirty dollars per week depending on a state and so states have to use this number as the minimum PUA benefit amount nobody can receive less even if you haven't filed your taxes and even if you're 2019 income was very limited there it's also important to note that after you do final year 2019 taxes you can seek a redetermination of your PUA benefit amount if your income entitles you to a higher weekly PUA benefit amount than than what you're already receiving you'll receive a true up payment to kind of account for that gap so I think I think I answered your question with that in addition in addition to your payment you'll also get a $600 SP you see weekly payment that John referenced earlier and that goes through July 31st 2020 awesome a number of the states are doing a fairly good job of paying out that $600 payment we know a number of states that have already started paying those up yes and I do know that DOL also recently released information that all 50 states will be issuing the additional $600 so that that just came out actually yesterday so it's hot off the press I guess absolutely and the nice thing about it is that you don't have to apply separately for those $600 it's rolled in to you know your application for PUA so if you get your PUA benefit if you get at least $1.00 and PUA benefits you'll get the full $600 uh you asked a separate question as well about jointly filing applications with your spouse which I will get to in just one second but I did want to touch back to the point about what documentation will be accepted for to verify income yet a minority of the states will accept a huge variety of documents which is great including not just 1099 forms but also pay stubs bank receipts business records contracts invoices billing statements you know something that proves what your earnings were most states though will only accept a subset of that you know so you should be careful and look at the agency's website to ensure what you know the state will accept to verify your income now moving on to the last part of the question if an applicant jointly filed their 2019 taxes their spouse this this doesn't impact their PUA benefit amount at all this is so you know even if the spouse continues to be employed or in regardless of how much the spouse is making the PUA benefits depends solely on the applicants eligibility and same with the weekly benefit amount it just depends on the Apple applicants income okay thank you thank you for clarifying that and also explaining that nuance because that is definitely again one of the major questions we receive real estate professionals typically aren't paid in a traditional hourly traditional hourly rate rather but they typically get paid by Commission and so many states have not yet updated their unemployment application to reflect self-employed nuances like this what guidance or advice can you provide to Realtors facing some of these application challenges sure and I'm sure it's confusing to see questions that don't really apply to you you know and you're not sure how to answer them so it is correct that many states applications don't reflect the realities of how an independent contractor or a self-employed person operates and earns money for instance you might see you know what is the name of your employer on your application on your initial application for benefits and you know the right answer may vary depending on the state some states are looking for real estate professionals to designate that they're self-employed for example or to designate the name of the Realtors registered broker or a registered business if if you're unsure how to answer you know we recommend picking up the phone and calling the state agency with respect to you know the fact that real estate professionals are often paid on a commission basis really regardless of how an applicant is paid whether it's on a salary basis through tips or an out hourly wage the unemployment agency evaluates the total amount of the wages earned over this 12 to 18 month period in time and then calculates that total amount for each quarter to determine eligibility and weekly benefit amount so put another way the eligibility and benefit amounts are calculated the same way no matter the form in which your feed whether it's Commission's or not one thing I can add there is that some states deaf purring how they evaluate when Commission's are received or when they're due over that 18 month period some states will say it is you know Commission should be allocated to win the sale that generated the Commission's was made other state States when the Commission's are actually paid or received by the applicant so there's some nuances there as well yes thank you for clarifying that because that is definitely very confusing at times and so that is good to know that it will vary by state but that definitely for our members they should check with their state on how they should claim those okay so I do want to ask also on metalia just about how what real estate brokers should do for example if they are being asked to verify by unemployment status for independent contractor agents applying for unemployment sir so you know if a broker receives notice that one of its independent contractors filed a claim seeking traditional unemployment benefits it could be one of two things happening it could be the case that the independent contractor incorrectly filed for traditional benefits rather than PUA in the states that have PU a specific applications or you know like I mentioned earlier perhaps the person wrote down the brokers name under the employer category right and that's not really what the agency was looking for so regardless of how it how it happened the broker could take steps to contest the unemployment claim by notifying the agency that the individual is not actually an employee but that the person is an independent contractor John I'm gonna now turn to you to answer this question for us once an application is processed our individuals notified about their eligibility if they are denied can be appeal or is there a redetermination process or apply again so you know each state will provide the applicant with written notice of whether they are not eligible based on the information yeah it submits and if they're eligible what their weekly benefit amount would be you know they usually notify you by letter although in the Internet age you know some states may move to email or other notification methods that are a little more user-friendly and efficient and I would just something to add that applicants what if they're denied PUA benefits they can appeal or seek a redetermination of the benefit amount and this is the same appeal right that a person would have under the traditional unemployment scheme rules regarding the appeals process vary by state but typically you'll get instructions on how to appeal with your determination letter and usually an appeal will end with some sort of hearing whether it's my telephone or in person with a referee or independent third party who will decide the benefits decision just as a follow-up do individuals have to pay taxes on these benefits that they receive for John or Natalia yes okay so we unfortunately have heard some anecdotes and stories about fraud with state unemployment programs where criminals are calling applicants and pretending to be state labor labor offices to personally ask individuals to verify their information or they're seeking to obtain information from individuals for seeking these unemployment benefits so how should individuals applying for these benefits protect against fraud and what are some protection being put in place and various state that's right man unfortunately this these scams are happening across the country one current one is that you know a person will call impersonating an unemployment agency and ask for credit card information to finalize your application you know to pay your benefits filing fee there there's no filing fee first of all so don't you know don't provide your credit card information over the phone state agencies are aware of these these types of scams and you know some have issued helpful guidance to applicants have you're basically have your radar up right verify the identity of the caller by asking them questions asking them to confirm the date on which you filed your claim you know most states really you know if this person is calling you you wouldn't want to file your benefits on that phone call to file use the website or the official telephone number on on the website and if you have any doubts this advice given to kind of told you to hang up you know hang up and call the state's official number to verify that call some states have other specific protections like New Hampshire will assure applicants that it's agency will never send you a text message requesting information so if you ever receive a text message and I'm sure you know you can even you will know it's not actually from the agency so as with you know some of our advice today check your agency's website on the specific scams that are occurring in your state thank you for that information and like definitely informing our members that one how to stay safe even when applying for these benefits and verifying their information so John we talked a lot about eligibility and the impact on benefits for see for example Realtors who may be teleworking or still receiving an occasional Commission check from past transaction let's walk the room now some of these specific questions that we've been getting so one of the major questions is in states where real estate has been deemed essential does that mean a real estate professional is ineligible for unemployment and also can you speak to as states begin to reopen what that means in terms of unemployment eligibility for independent contractors sure so first know it's not necessarily the case you know that if you're in an industry deemed essential that you're ineligible for unemployment benefits you know whether that's traditional benefits or PUA benefits there there really is just no relevance to that so even in states where a real estate may be classified as an essential industry you know not every real estate professional continues to be fully employed earning what they were earning over the measurement period that usually you know 12 to 18 months prior there's nothing we've seen in the cares act or guidance that indicates that workers and essentially in essential industries are somehow ineligible for P endemic unemployment system your second question was whether how a reopening couldn't influence their eligibility for unemployment correct yes and the answer to that is that estimated to reopen real real tours like many other professionals will begin to earn more income and as you begin to earn more income you can end up reducing or if you make too much money ultimately eliminating the your ability to be eligible for unemployment benefits it's really a determination that's tied to what you've made over this measurement period against what you're currently making and so as economies begin to flourish a little more from state to state Realtors will begin I hope to make more money and that in effect may make them you know eligible for less or no unemployment benefits moving forward okay and can you also speak to whether agents should for example if they are collecting unemployment should they retire their license or allow their license to go and active in order to be eligible to receive unemployment during a given timeframe you know I think natal you mentioned it earlier but one of the elements of being eligible for PUA and for traditional benefits is that you're available for work and so if they're deciding that they don't want to create a real estate and they want a career elsewhere with they're going to be available for I'm sure well I have retire you know your license and pursue it work elsewhere but I don't advise against retiring your license just to claim unemployment you know the Department of Labor has been clear with that lease respect to this six hundred dollar additional payment that they're making that individuals who purposefully hold themselves out of the job market because they think they can make more money on unemployment or actually commit and you know what's equivalent to a fraud on the government so I don't want to see anybody get in trouble obviously it's not not something I would recommend unless you're planning to change careers and look for work elsewhere thank you for clarifying that and providing us the information on that can you also speak to partial unemployment and telework with K those are definitely talked about within the DOL guidance as well as within the cares Act so can you speak to what telework would pay or partial benefits would look like for independent contractors and self-employed individuals sure so individuals who telework with pay but have happened their hours or salary reduced you know are still eligible for a partial unemployment benefit but as I mentioned earlier any income you are receiving currently you know can you reduce your benefits and if you weren't too much it all ultimately could make you ineligible for benefits under the state law you know states really vary and how will they calculate these partial unemployment benefits and in what and what amount of income per week they consider too high for the individual to qualify for benefits unfortunately you know the formulas for calculating these benefits aren't simple Mia so it's hard to kind of fit it all into one box most states determine a person's weekly benefit amount based on a percentage of their past earnings up to a cap a person that can then usually earn up to a certain percentage of their past earnings let's say 20 percent as an example without reducing as that person begins to earn over that artificial number at created 20 percent then their benefits are usually reduced dollar for dollar for every dollar over that amount that they received and eventually they'll just earn so much right now a hundred twenty percent where they're not eligible for any benefits is that income can also reduce your benefits Social Security benefits short-term disability payments retirement benefits workers comp payments severance payments there's a number of other kind of non-work-related income you could receive that could influence the amount of benefits you're receiving it all really just depends on the law of the state where you're receiving those benefits that's very helpful that's very helpful just an understanding how these benefits work I wanted to actually next we received definitely a lot of inquiries about the PPP program the Eid lsda loans and P&P way right and unemployment and so people want to know can I receive under each of these programs and what does that look like in terms of unemployment benefits and that correlation the carrots act is not specifically the coordination between the SBA loan program and also unemployment and so can you just give us idea of how that works and and what we should expect in terms of impacts when it relates to unemployment it's a difficult question yeah and I think that if you search the internet you're gonna find different guidance on this point so our review of the cares act there is nothing explicit in the text of the Act or the current federal guidance that we've seen that explicitly prohibits someone from both receiving a PPP alone or economic injury disaster loan and also applying for unemployment know that set the PPP requires in order for you to have loan forgiveness that you spend 75% of the loan which can be up to 2.5 times you know your payroll over a given period of time specifically on payroll so it may preclude both you know achieving loan forgiveness under the PPP and also receiving unemployment benefits but ultimately you know to decide whether a PPP loan or a CID a loan or a plummet when it makes the most sense financially for any realtor they need to carefully consider what the program provides along with those requirements like the 75% that I've mentioned and if necessary really consult with an accountant on that so I just have one last question for you and this is the million dollar question do we think that PUA benefits or funding rather will run out in each respective states and what does what does that mean for realtors in terms of applying how soon should they apply and will this money run out no I mean my belief is no there's no need to worry about the money running out for the PUA and I say this because you know the Cure's Act provides a hundred percent federal funding for all unemployment claims under the POA program I anticipate you're asking because the PPP initially ran out of money and the PPP though was designated by a specific 300 plus a billion dollar amount that that ran out in the first round I don't think that's gonna happen with with PUA benefits with respect to you know unemployment taxes and whether those could become higher you know I think it's unlikely for the same reason that there's going to be any increase in on employment taxes you know because of this you know 100 percent federal backing for PUA benefits there's there's another wrinkle with you know whether independent contractors you know the fact that self-employment independent contractors individuals are applying for POA benefits that could somehow raise the taxes I just I don't think that that's going to happen and in most most states you know nobody's required to pay taxes for those benefits it's simply a creature of of the new cares Act law and so I don't see them changing the laws to somehow make you contribute taxes to cover you know independent contractor or self-employed individuals receipt of these funds as well definitely thank you for that information and that is definitely great information for us right now during this pandemic and also for our members so thank you both to John and Natalia for the feedback and your responses and just giving us this valuable information we've discussed the major programmatic aspects of the newly created pandemic unemployment assistance program and now we will gain a realtor perspective on this program today I am joined by two Realtors crystal Bergland and Austin Roe who will share their experiences on applying for and receiving benefits under the pandemic unemployment assistance program in their respective states crystal is a realtor and Associate Broker with Keller Williams first in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and has been a realtor for over 19 years Austin is a realtor associate with captain and company in Memphis Tennessee and serves as an active member of rep and one the realtor political action committee in the greater Memphis area thank you both for sharing your story hi crystal thanks for joining us today hi Nia thank you for having me thank you thanks so much please tell us I'm just a little bit about your experience and applying for the pandemic unemployment assistance benefits in Michigan sure I think I've been through a little bit of everything that John and Natalia went over the last week of March when they said that independent contractors could qualify for unemployment I went ahead and I applied through the Machine website the uia website they didn't have the contractors application available at the website at that time so it was hard it didn't have a lot of the answers that the system was requiring I used a lot of nines and zeros because I do work as a sole proprietor under my own social security number so I didn't have an EIN number I did get the application to submit um except there for about a week and finally I was denied because they were asking me to provide a 940 which obviously I didn't have as an independent contractor um so then it came out that the state was going to be rolling out application where an independent contractor could apply but they said that if you would have been deny that they were going to be physically going through every denied application that was what they first said and then after they rolled out that new application they asked that you go log back in and applied in the new application so that rolled oh I believe on April 13th this system crashed on April 13th because I think there were too many independent contractors trying to apply on that day I went on late on the 14th and I was able to put in my information as independent contractor upload my 1099 from 2019 it took about a week a week before anything really happened with the site I did the uia director had a couple question and answers like on their Facebook page so I attended some of those they said just to be patient they only update the system once a day so there was no need to log back in multiple times a day to check to see if your status tide changed so I gave it a couple days and then on April 20th I saw that I was approved it had a zero dollar amount and it sat there for a few days and then I read some more online articles I said if you went in and you updated your profile in your settings to include your payment information which I had originally put in when I did the original uie application at the end of March so I went there and updated my banking information for my direct deposit the next day it populated with the months I was approved for and it let me certify for the last four weeks so I certified payments on the 23rd of April on the 25th of April I log back in it had all the amounts that I was going to be getting direct deposited for and then my direct deposit was input into my bank account on the 27th on Monday awesome thank you for providing that information what advice would you give to other Realtors who are getting frustrated and really annoyed that a lot of the systems are inefficient or they can't get through on the line do you have any any words of wisdom that you could share um I think though these are new these are new programs I think we just have to be patient I I guess I feel blessed now after listening to John that our state actually has it and that we even got the additional 600 in our deposits so I guess be patient and just read and go on to your state officially has a unemployment website maybe they have question and answers I thought I found that to be very very helpful because no other people have the same questions that we have just watch and read and listen to anything that you can and be really patient thanks so much crystal welcome - thanks for joining us today how are you good how are you good doing well I wanted to know if you could walk us through you're the application process for applying for pandemic unemployment assistance benefits in Tennessee and tell us what your experience was like okay so I waited until they until Tennessee updated their system their unemployment system to allow for independent contractors to actually apply they made it they've actually put an additional page within the unemployment system for you to select that you are in fact an independent contractor and then every time you certify it actually waives the job job seeking requirement and then I so I did that on April 8th and then they came out with a video explaining it for independent contractors I'm like April 15th or something like that so I already applied and I was like well I hope I got it right and then I got approved on April 16th and I got my first payment last Tuesday so it went relatively I was I think I'm fortunate because I think it went relatively clicked for me it was you know to two to three weeks from the time I applied to the time that I got it now I feel like I was fortunate for that but that's how it was for for me okay and what what did you find helpful I guess just in terms of your application process or what information can you provide to other fellow Realtors about the process that maybe you learned that you didn't know um well this is my first time applying for unemployment benefits so I would go to the Tennessee I watched the video after the fact go to Tennessee's website it might be helpful for other states I don't know what the process is in other states to be honest when it came down when I had a question during the poll process I sent a tick a helpdesk ticket into the Department of Labor like everyday asking the same question until I got response back and it worked for me but be patient I mean we're in a situation where we have millions upon millions of people unemployed and the systems are inundated and they they're working on scallops and stuff anyways so just be patient as you can and find as many helpful resources on the your Department of Labor's website to help you get through the application Thank You Austin definitely thanks for sharing your story and crystal as well for providing us with this information just about your experiences and applying for these benefits because it's definitely helpful for other Realtors to know that it's everyday folks like them who are you know applying for these benefits and and patiently waiting and also we're in this really in this together as we understand better understand how these programs are rolling out and how the benefits also are rolling out with implementation so thank you to Natalia and John from John's day thank you for lending your expertise and providing us with information about unemployment benefits and the pandemic unemployment assistance program so that Realtors can better understand the program and thank you to Crystal and Austin for sharing your bold and optimistic stories about your experiences applying for unemployment benefits in your state to help inspire and encourage Realtors to learn more about the benefits available to them during this critical time for more information and resources about the pandemic unemployment benefits program please visit na r dot realtor forward slash coronavirus you again the website is na r dot realtor forward slash coronavirus you for more information about the pandemic unemployment assistance program and other information that can help you during this time so thank you all so much for being a part of this and providing us with so much insight thanks and you