Independent contractors and those who are self-employed can start applying for unemployment benefits tomorrow (Friday). But Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne says payments aren’t expected to start going out until May 8.
“As a reminder, these claims will also take about 21 days to administer, so just because a person files on May 7 doesn’t mean a payment will be forthcoming on May 8,” he said during state officials’ COVID-19 briefing Thursday. “So we want to ensure that people are patient and people understand the process.”
Payne noted that his department had to build an entirely new system to handle the claims from those newly eligible due to the pandemic. The department’s online filing system was once again scheduled to be taken offline for a few hours Thursday evening to complete the update.
More than 75,000 initial unemployment claims were filed last week. Payne said that’s down significantly from the peak in March, but still triple the pre-COVID-19 peak. So far this month, the state has paid out about $470 million in unemployment benefits to approximately 350,000 people.
Payne added that the Department of Workforce Development continues to see an extremely high volume of phone calls. He encourages people to see if the answer to their question is available online at Unemployment.IN.gov before calling.
The department is also hosting virtual job fairs to help get Hoosiers back to work.
