Self-Employed Oklahomans Can Sign Up For Unemployment Assistance

It's called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA.  The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) said it specifically helps gig workers, independent contractors and people whose unemployed benefits have already been exhausted.

“It's to provide relief for those people who just don't typically qualify for regular unemployment compensation,” said Trey Davis with OESC.

OESC is urging those who qualify to apply as soon as possible.  If you have a question about eligibility, head to the agency's website.  This is a pre-application process; they hope to begin issuing relief next week.

“And that puts you in the pipeline so that when we begin issuing those funds your application is already there, it can be processed that much sooner,” said Davis.

Davis said s all eligible applicants will have their claims backdated to the time that they stopped working.  Others, however, said they've seen glitches on the site.

“For example, if you try to do the PUA application on your smart phone you're going to run into a lot of trouble with people trying and sharing their information, said Rep. Mickey Dollens.

Since this pandemic started, OESC has averaged 15,000 applicants per week. State Representative Jacob Rosecrants is optimistic the PUA could help many throughout the state.

“It's great that they've done this because anything that makes it easier is going to help people out and there's a lot of people that are trying to get these funds right now to just survive,” said Rosecrants.

For the PUA application, click here.