When I heard ‘It’s hard being your own boss’, I thought people meant employee reviews were harder to do since you have to carry both parts of a tough conversation in your home office.
Now, watching as self-employed artists, caterers, events specialists and more are struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the image is less ‘Ha!’ and more ‘AH!’.
It’s bad out there, y’all. And my heart goes out virtually, as per CDC guidelines. But in every viral cloud, there’s a colloidal silver lining. In the great state of Texas, that lining is: You’re probably eligible for disaster-based unemployment.
Yes, really!
Straight from the Texas Workforce Commission’s mouth: If your employment has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19), apply for benefits either online at any time using Unemployment Benefits Services or by calling TWC’s Tele-Center at 800-939-6631 from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Central Time Monday through Friday.
Now how does that cover the self-employed? Simple…kinda.
You’ll need to apply through the Disaster Unemployment Assistance and then take the extra steps of providing different proof than your 9-5 friends.
Firstly, you have to prove you’re self employed. If you’ve been paying you under the table, this is where the poop hits the fan, I’m afraid. The government will need things like (any given one of these): Insurance bills, business license, a recent ad, an invoice, or sales records.
Were you just about to start your own business when all this went down? Fortunately you’re covered too, so long as you have proof of prospective self-employment, say: The deed to a building you just bought, loan documents, ‘Grand Opening’ announcements, and so forth.
For the full list of documents that suffice, visit the TWC site directly and check what proof your pudding needs.
This situation is a Corona-cluster-cussword, but there’s help out there.
Reach out. Grab it. And then wash your hands.
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David Chapman
April 5, 2020 at 8:30 am
This seems more theoretical than possible as of 4/5/2020. TWC’s site is still not ready for self-employed. It asks a lot of questions that do not apply. The concern is screwing up the application since you can’t get a hold of anyone on the phone to fix it.
Pat
April 14, 2020 at 4:08 pm
That’s our exact quandary as of 4/14. The application asks for employer’s name and other information that does not apply to self-employed individuals. And TWC’s phone system is still overburdened and they are impossible to contact. Cluster**** indeed!!
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