Workforce Assistance

More information and resources available on Business Oregon's Small Business Navigator.
Page last updated: July 9, 2020

Returning to Work

Click here for FAQs about returning to work once the State of Oregon resumes business operations.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

The US Employment Dept. will be launching the PUA at the end of April. PUA is a program that provides unemployment benefits to workers not typically covered by regular unemployment insurance benefits
  • Self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers who weren’t already eligible
  • Employees whose wages are not reported for unemployment insurance
  • Employees who have not earned enough wages or worked enough hours for regular unemployment benefits, and
  • People who were going to start work but could not.
Click here for PUA FAQs
Independent Contractors and Self-employed persons can now apply for PUA!

Temporary Paid Leave Program
A new program starts this week to help people who work in Oregon and need to quarantine or isolate due to Covid-19 exposure but do not have access to Covid-19 related paid sick leave.  People who qualify will receive a $120 per day payment for up to 10 working days ($1,200 total) for the time they are required to quarantine.  Employees can apply online starting Wednesday, Sept 16, at oregon.gov/covidpaidleave
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Paycheck Protection Program

All information below came from U.S. Small Business Administration.
SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities. (SBA PPP)
  • The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The Small Business Association (SBA) will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.

  • This program is for any small business with less than 500 employees (including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed persons), 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, 501(c)(19) veterans organizations, or Tribal businesses (see sec. 31(b)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act) affected by coronavirus/COVID-19.

Layoff Aversion Funds

Layoff Aversion Funds are available to Oregon businesses to prevent or minimize unemployment due to lay-offs caused by COVID-19 Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board (SOWIB) will distribute Layoff Aversion Funds in Coos, Curry and Douglas Counties with the following parameters:
  • Requests must be a result of the business impact from COVID-19
  • Small businesses/organizations with fewer than 20 employees
  • Limited to reimbursements for supplies and/or equipment up to $5,000

WARN Notices for Lay-offs

For businesses that cannot avoid laying off employees, they should inform their employees in writing to ensure the laid-off employee has documentation to request unemployment benefits and file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with Oregon’s Rapid Response Dislocated Worker Unit. Click here for more information on WARN notices.

Local Bill Assistance

Central Lincoln PUD is now offering the Job Loss Assistance Program for residential Central Lincoln customers receiving unemployment benefits. Assistance funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, click here to go to the Job Loss Assistance page on Central Lincoln's website.