When Ari Rosenthal clocked out of his shift at Ha Long Bay on Thursday, March 12, he knew it would be the last time he’d be working there for a while. Since the spread of COVID-19, most restaurants had to suspend dine-in services and it was only a matter of time before Ha Long Bay made the switch to take-out only.
As a part-time server, Rosenthal typically received his shifts on a weekly basis and following his last shift that Thursday, he and the other servers were notified about the switch. He would not be receiving his next shift assignments and was, for the time being, out of a job.
“My manager was very communicative [during this time] and emailed us a bunch,” he said. “She said they’d take it week by week so when we found out, there just wasn’t that much notice.”
Rosenthal, 23, now unemployed, decided to file for unemployment and became one of the more than 300,000 new applicants applying for benefits in Wisconsin, an unprecedented number. In the same period last year, the total number of new applicants filing was 17,748, indicating a more than 1600 percent increase, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workplace Development (DWD).
In fact, the DWD released a statement with the numbers of applicants and weekly claims between March 15 and April 6, the period when many restaurants, clubs and other businesses started closing doors.
“Between March 15 and April 6, 2020, the total number of new applications submitted for unemployment benefits was 313,068, with weekly claims reaching 589,616,” the statement read. “The total amount in unemployment benefits distributed equaled $68,759,104.”
The record volume of applicants has overwhelmed the DWD systems. During the week of March 22, Wisconsin’s Unemployment Insurance Division received more than 1.5 million calls on a system “that was not built to handle” that much volume. To support their call staff, DWD hired more workers, recruited retirees and many of their employees are working overtime.
Still, the mass amounts of calls and online applications have overpowered the division, resulting in long wait times, delays and frustration on all sides.
“It’s kind of bad,” Rosenthal said. As a college student, Rosenthal relied on his service job as his primary source of income. Since filing for unemployment, he ran into problems due to his student status.
“Last semester I was a full-time student but this semester I am part-time. Because I was full-time and working less than I was this semester, they take that into account and I don’t qualify for the amount I asked for. I can’t call often because the system keeps saying they’re too busy and it takes a long time to get a hold of someone.”
Jordan, 22, who asked to omit her last name, experienced similar delays in contacting the unemployment office. Jordan had been working for Prairie Athletics Club for about a year and a half before the pandemic caused her job to begin cutting hours.
“My work is more like ‘if we don’t need you, we’re gonna cut you to save money’,” she said. “They were cutting people and a normal 30-hour workweek for me turned into six hours.”
In late March, she received an email stating that the organization would be closing the following day. Her last day working was March 20 and two days later, the organization closed. Luckily, she was one of the employees furloughed rather than laid off.
Initially, she was told that they would start work again the following week, but now Jordan is unsure of when she will be able to work.
“Once they announced they were doing layoffs and furloughing people, they said ‘we’ll email you a week before you’re supposed to come back.’ Until then, we don’t know anything,” she said.
In the meantime, Jordan will be getting one last paycheck of $150-$200 and after that, she won’t be getting financial support from her employer until she begins working again. Jordan decided to file for unemployment on March 19 and contacted the office through various means until she was finally able to get a hold of someone on April 1.
“It was wild,” she said. “I called them easily over 200 times in a week. I bombarded them through Facebook and email as well. It took forever to get a hold of someone.”
Unlike Rosenthal, Jordan was able to receive her first payment on April 6. She will be getting $71 a week.
The DWD is developing an application for the national unemployment assistance, known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). This would allow workers to be eligible for retroactive benefits as far back as February, according to DWD’s site.
The assistance fund was created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was signed into law on March 27. The act expanded temporary unemployment insurance eligibility to those who were otherwise ineligible for benefits, including part-time workers impacted by COVID-19.
The CARES Act also created the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, which is supposed to provide an additional $600 per week to those who qualify for both unemployment insurance and PUA benefits.
At this time, Wisconsin plans to start making FPUC payments the week of April 26. These benefits may help out people like Jordan and her family, who were also impacted by layoffs, or small business owners like Larissa Schultz.
Shultz, 26, opened Lala Brooke Nails, LLC, in July 2017 and had to close temporarily on March 17. Although Shultz has yet to file for unemployment, the lack of income is a source of stress for her.
“As a small business I have no say in how long the Safer at Home order will last,” she said. “I have faith in my clients’ support but if I have to stay closed for two months or longer I am fearful in my ability to pay my bills.”
Shultz is the sole operator of her nail studio and did not have to lay off employees. However, she is also unable to apply for temporary jobs in places like grocery stores to earn some form of income.
“I have a three-year-old daughter with an autoimmune disease and while I need the income I do not think I could take the risk of potentially bringing the virus home.”
For small business owners like Shultz, the CARES Act established temporary loan programs to aid them during the pandemic. Dane County also established a Small Business Pandemic Support Grant Program to help local businesses survive through COVID-19. Dane Buy Local will administer the grants and business owners will be able to apply through June 15.
For now, Shultz and Jordan remain at home waiting for a chance to go back to work. Rosenthal awaits as well, with the added stress of online school. They all wait for more information on the different grants and programs they are eligible to apply for. Though Wisconsin plans to start making FPUC payments late April, it is unclear how eligible people apply and when the application will be available.
“This pandemic is striking everyone in such personal ways that I ask everyone to have compassion for everyone during this time,” Shultz said. “There are so many superheroes on the frontline of this but even if you were laid off from a job, you are still an essential citizen in the world.”
