FORT SMITH, Ark. — Thousands of Arkansans are now without jobs because of COVID-19 and while many can file for unemployment, there are some people who are not eligible because their job classified them as an independent contractor.
James Fisk owns SLS Productions and for almost two decades has been doing lighting for concerts and big events around the River Valley. Now, since all concerts and events have been cancelled because of the pandemic, he is without a job.
“We always depend on March as being a huge production month, so we usually make our money back then and go through the year,” Fisk said.
He says like many other people in production, January is typically when they buy new lights and cables. Since he is an independent contractor, he does not qualify for unemployment.
“I had probably 10 to 15 shows booked in March and April and within two weeks all of them were canceled, so now we’ll all stuck with thousands of dollars in equipment and no way to recoup,” Fisk said.
Senator Greg Leding says even though people like Fisk aren’t eligible for state unemployment benefits, they will be able to apply for federal assistance through the CARES Act that was recently signed into law.
The Arkansas Secretary of commerce says they just got guidance on this from the U.S. Department of Labor on Sunday (April 5).
“Unfortunately, it’s going to require the department to build a whole new system to process these applications, so it could be a few weeks. It’s just the matter of not having the right infrastructure in place is what it sounds like,” he said.
Leding says hopefully it will only be a couple of weeks before the Arkansas Department of Commerce is able to start processing applications so people like independent contractors can get the help they need. He also says these claims will be backdated and there will also hopefully be additional support coming from the congress in the future.