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SPECIAL REPORT: City of Chicago Resources

There have been 2,167 cases of COVID-19 identified in Chicago residents and 5,056 in Illinois as of statistics released on March 30, 2020. Due to massive disruptions that already have and will continue to impact the City of Chicago indefinitely, the City of Chicago and Illinois have implemented, in part, the following programs and policies to assist and help get individuals and businesses through the COVID-19 crisis.

Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund

On March 31, 2020, Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund will begin taking applications for loans to small businesses impacted by COVID-19. The City of Chicago, along with Chicago Community Catalyst Fund, Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Fifth Third, and Clayco have established a $100 million fund to provide small business with emergency cash flow during the COVID-19 crisis.

The loans will be low-interest loans for a term up to five years. Small businesses may loan up to $50,000 with the amount to be based on revenues before the COVID-19 crisis. The loan must be used for working capital with at least 50% of proceeds to be applied to payroll. Small businesses must also commit to retain at least 50% of the pre-COPVID-19 crisis workforce.

To qualify, small businesses must have suffered more than 25% revenue decrease due to COVID-19, employ fewer than 50 employees, have less than $3 million in gross revenues in 2019, have a Chicago business address or Chicago business license, and have no pre-existing tax liens or legal judgments. Small businesses will also be required to provide bank statements from October 2019, most recent tax return, and a photo ID.

Construction – Essential Service

On March 20, 2020, Governor Pritzker issued the “Stay at Home” Executive Order, which has been effective as of March 21, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Pursuant to the order, construction is deemed to be essential infrastructure exception. Construction includes, but is not limited to construction required in response to the COVID-19 crisis, hospital construction, construction of long-term care facilities, public works construction, and housing construction. Thus, construction projects may continue so long as there is compliance social distancing requirements such as maintaining at least six-foot social distancing from other individuals, washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible or using hand sanitizer, cover coughs or sneezes (into the sleeve or elbow, not hands), regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces, and not shaking hands.

The City of Chicago is continuing to process permits and will remain available to answer questions and offer assistance. Please see the list below for contact information within the Department of Buildings:

Unemployment Issues – Emergency Rules

An individual that is temporarily laid off because of COVID-19 could qualify for benefits as long as they are able and available for and actively seeking work. Under the emergency rules adopted by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (“IDES”), the individual does not have to register with the employment service. Individuals would be considered to be actively seeking work as long as they are prepared to return to their job as soon the employer reopened.

An individual that leaves their employment voluntarily without a good reason attributable to the employer is generally disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance. An individual’s eligibility under this scenario will be determined on a case by case basis on the facts of their case.

Individuals will be considered to be unemployed through no fault of their own if they are confined at home because of a COVID-19 diagnosis or because they must stay home to take care of a spouse, child, or parent diagnosed with COVID-19 or because of a government-imposed or government-recommended quarantine. Notwithstanding, the individual must still meet all other eligibility requirements in order to qualify for unemployment insurance. The individual must be able and available for work, registered with the state employment service and actively seeking work from the confines of their home.

Since all schools in Illinois are temporarily closed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, an individual who had to leave their job to care for their child could be considered as unemployed through no fault of his her own. These individuals must also still need to meet all other eligibility requirements stated above.

Individuals that have exhausted their unemployment insurance and have already received the full 26 weeks’ worth of benefits in their current benefit year are not currently eligible for further benefits.

For employers, IDES has not issued any additional guidance pertaining to an increase of an employer’s unemployment contribution rate due to COVID-19.

Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund

The City of Chicago, The Chicago Community Trust, and United Way of Metro Chicago have collaboratively launched the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund (“CCRF”). The CCRF unites funds raised by Chicago’s philanthropies, corporations and individuals, which will  be disbursed to non-profit organizations across the region.

The CCRF will help provide increased access to emergency food and basic supplies, rent and mortgage assistance, utility assistance, direct financial assistance for household supplies, and nonprofit safety and operations assistance. The CCRF will allocate funds to local non-profits who will then disperse services and supplies. A list of organizations included in the initial round of funding can be found at https://www.chicagocovid19responsefund.org/#agencies. Individuals and families in need of assistance should contact the organizations directly.

 

CONTACT:

Andrew J. Annes, Esquire
aannes@satclaw.com
mobile: (312) 246-3110

John W. Campbell, Jr., Esquire
jcampbell@satclaw.com
mobile: (312) 391-3126

Websites:
https://satclaw.com/
https://www.satcsolutions.com/

 

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