In our 4th victory of its kind this year, a California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (CUIAB) judge determined that our client Mark’s submitted documents were sufficient to establish his eligibility for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).
Like many self-employed workers, Mark’s business as a realtor significantly diminished as a result of the pandemic. The federal PUA program was enacted in March 2020 to aid workers like him and Mark received those benefits without issue throughout the period of his impacted financial position. In December 2020, the federal government determined that it would require those on the PUA program to submit documentation that was not previously required in order to continue to collect PUA benefits. EDD delayed in requesting these documents from claimants until after the PUA program had ended.
Despite the delayed implementation, Mark had submitted compliant documents to EDD, yet for unexplained reasons, he was told his documents were not sufficient to prove that he was self-employed. He appealed the decision and CWR arranged for representation from one of our UC Davis School of Law volunteers to represent him at the hearing. The judge ruled in his favor on October 28, 2022.
Mark is far from the only person who has faced this issue. From January – June 2022 the CUIAB ruled on almost 10,000 cases on this issue alone, overturning 65% of those decisions. CWR continues to fight to preserve benefits paid under the PUA program through representation of claimants at CUIAB and through advocacy with the EDD.