Doordash Drivers - When Will Unemployment Benefits Start Adding the Extra $300 per week?

The Federal Care Act added lots of provisions in 2020 to expand unemployment benefits to those that would not regularly be available to collect unemployment benefits. This included business owners, those that are self-employed, independent contractors, those with limited work history and others who have been impacted by the pandemic. With that said, many Doordash drivers and other on-demand food delivery drivers have become familiar with PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.)

 

The LWA Program will replace the PUA program and give the unemployed and extra $300 per week

 

Thanks to PUA many Doordash drivers have been able to collect their regular unemployment benefits plus an extra $600 per week. This extra $600 per week has been added on automatically to those collecting unemployment and was scheduled to assist Americans from March 29, 2020 until July 25, 2020. This has been great for many on-demand delivery drivers as many of them have been earning more collecting unemployment than what they made when they were dashing. Many dashers have been getting around $3000 per month or more for about the past 3 months.

Why didn't the government extend the $600 per week benefits?

It's a bit complicated, but it seems that there has been a blame game going on. It's been widely reported that the Democrats wanted to extend the extra $600 per week until December, but the Republications didn't want it to go through because they felt that many people were taking advantage of it. In other words, those receiving the extra $600 per week would rather not work and collect more than what they would receive if they got a job and went back to work.

With that said there are Americans that blame the Republicans, there are those that blame the Democrats and then there are those that blame President Trump. What is definite is that both parties in congress failed to reach a deal on another Corona Virus Rescue Package. It's a pretty sad thing when the unemployment rates continuing to rise month after month.

 

The Doordash driver and unemployment

 

I am squeezing this small chapter in because I recently talked to a dasher that criticized dashers that were collecting unemployment. This guy called those dashers lazy and thieves that seized the opportunity to gain some free money during a time of crisis. I thought this guy was full of you know what, but I just let the fool talk and then moved on with my business.

 

First off, Doordash and other gig drivers have always had the opportunity to continue working. Doordash drivers have never been forced to go on unemployment. They could have just kept on working through it all while taking safety precautions. Many dashers have done just that.

 

Of course nobody should ever be criticized for going on unemployment though. I mean, really, we as human beings were facing something, and still are, that has been unlike anything we could have ever imagined. It's a freaking disease that continues to spread in the world and is killing people. It's something that seems like more of a Hollywood movie than reality.

 

A lot of Doordash drivers had good reasons to go on unemployment. Yes, Covid 19 forced many gig workers to start collecting unemployment. For example, if a full time dasher lived with their elderly parents, it would be best too collect unemployment. I could see somebody saying that's hogwash and laziness, but the reality of it is that this dasher would not want to risk picking up the Corona Virus and giving it to his elderly parents.

 

Then there is the dasher that has kids and those kids are no longer in school due to the school closures. The dasher cannot go out and deliver food anymore. They certainly are not taking their kids out with them. There are so many reasons that gig workers should be entitled to collecting unemployment. Everybody knows this and this is the reason that the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance was created in the first place.

 

What do unemployed dashers supposed to do now that they are not receiving the extra $600 per week?

It has been over a month now since the extra $600 of extra unemployment benefits ended and many dashers have been forced to get back on the road again to start delivering food. Without the extra $600 per week of unemployment benefits a lot of gig workers have found themselves receiving an unlivable amount of unemployment benefits . Everybody is different, but no matter what amount they are getting it is certainly not enough to live off of.

 

Even though some Doordash drivers did not feel that they were ready to go back to work with the Corona Virus and all, all gig workers have to realize that they are in a much better situation than many other people. When the $600 per week stopped, there's been many people who have been kicked out of their homes and that have faced many of the worst financial problems that we can think of. Dashers on the other hand can just turn on their Doordash app, log on and go out and make money. It's really something that gig workers should appreciated be grateful for.

 

Will the government find another way to help unemployed Americans out?

We have to all certainly hope so. After all hopes of the $600 extra per week ended, and everybody fully realized that it was not going to happen, President Donald Trump signed an executive action on August 8, 2020 calling for a $300 per week Federally funded jobless benefit for workers that were unemployed due to the pandemic. Sure, it is only half of the $600 per week that the unemployed were previously receiving, but the extra $300 per week will keep the unemployed in their homes, allow them to buy groceries and pay for other necessities that families need to survive. The LWA (Lost Wages Assistance Program) will carry on until the last week of December.

 

When will the unemployed begin receiving the extra $300 per week?

It is difficult to say, and there have been many delays. Each state will begin distributing the extra $300 per week when it is ready. It's been reported that the states have to reconfigure their systems before they start distributing money. This is the why the unemployed in some states will begin to receive the extra $300 per week while other states will still be stalled. Eventually though, hopefully sooner than later, all states will begin distributing these funds.

The extra $300 per week unemployment benefit is retroactive

The unemployed will be glad to know that the extra $300 per week will be retroactive going back to August 1st. That is about the time that the extra $600 per week ended. Hopefully this retroactive pay will further help those catch up on things in life due to their financial struggles.

Hoping all states start distributing the extra $300 per week before the end of the month

Why? Because I watch the news and read a lot, and it is very sad to see all of these families that could not pay their rent get kicked out of their home. Some of these people have kids, and it is just a really sad situation. With all of the problems going on this year in the world, the last thing that you would want for somebody is for them to become homeless.

It has been reported that a few states have already began disbursing the extra $300 per week, but the vast majority of states certainly have not. The plan is for all states to make sure that these funds are being distributed before the end of the September. Hopefully everything goes according to plan.