Many Businesses Allowed to Reopen
Last week, the governor announced that industrial, manufacturing, and office-based businesses will be able to reopen if they have safety plans in place. According to the governor, this order could help as many as 100,000 Minnesotans return to work starting this week.
In order to reopen, businesses must create and share a plan for keeping employees safe, conduct daily health screenings of employees upon their arrival, and continue teleworking whenever possible. The Department of Labor and Industry will have an optional template plan available to use as a start point. The Department of Employment and Economic Development will be hosting two webinars to discuss this process. More information on the webinars can be found here.
The governor also announced that schools will continue distance learning through the end of this school year. He has not yet made a decision on what school will look like this summer or in the fall.
The governor also announced last week that he is working with the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic to dramatically ramp up the state's testing capacity. The partnership will allow data to be collected to identify hotspots and conduct further research into how best to treat and prevent COVID-19.
According to Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm, this will ensure testing of all symptomatic Minnesotans with the fastest possible turnaround, and allow MDH to apply the results strategically to identify hotspots and isolate and trace contacts for positive cases.
MDH plans to partner with the legislature as they continue to develop strategies for case investigation and contact tracing. I look forward to hearing more about this in committee hearings as testing increases.
In case you missed this in last week's email, I wanted to bring this new resource to your attention. Last week, the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced that they will begin paying Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) for self-employed and independent contractors.
From DEED, here’s what Minnesotans need to know about applying for PUA:
- If you have already applied for regular unemployment benefits, you do not need to do anything extra to qualify for PUA. DEED will automatically establish a PUA benefit account for you if you are eligible.
- If you have not applied for unemployment benefits yet, special instructions for self-employed and 1099 workers are available here. These instructions include steps you can take to make your account easily identifiable as potentially eligible for PUA.
- If you applied for unemployment benefits without following those instructions, don’t worry – you don’t need to change anything. Your account will still be reviewed for PUA eligibility.
- If you have not heard from DEED yet, don’t worry. We expect to be in touch with most people who are eligible for benefits under PUA by the end of April. There is no need to call or follow-up; you will hear from us proactively if we need additional information to determine eligibility.
- You will receive information about PUA benefits in your online account, by email, and by mail.
- Applicants who receive PUA benefits will also receive the $600/week additional payment.
- PUA benefits will be backdated to whenever you first became eligible due to COVID-19.
- Additional information, including answers to many commonly asked questions, can be found here: COVID-19 information for self-employed people and independent contractors
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