(Updated 3.31.2020)

Latest News

•  NEW  CARES Act Information
  • National Conference of State Legislatures COVID-19 Stimulus Bill: What it Means for States
  • U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: The Small Business Owner's Guide to the CARES Act
  • Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) - a provision of the CARES Act that authorizes loans with forgiveness and deferral possibilities. See details here and speak to your SBA approved lender to apply.
  • U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell's FAQs
  • National Association of Manufacturer's: CARES ACT Q&A on Key Provisions
  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Briefing on Emergency Coronavirus Funding for 501(c)(3) Nonprofits video and slide deck
  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Coronavirus Emergency Loans Guide and Checklist for Small Business and Nonprofits
•  NEW  U.S. Chamber of Commerce Coronavirus Emergency Loans Small Business Guide and Checklist
•  NEW  Manufacturers needed: If you are are a company willing to shift gears and re-purpose manufacturing operations to help with the COVID-19 crisis, email covidmanufacturing@commerce.wa.gov to provide details on what you can offer
• UPDATED: Washington State Coronavirus Response (COVID-19) page for business and workers

AWB COVID-19 Employer Resources Webinar Series

 UP NEXT  AWB's COVID-19 Employer Resources Webinar Series on April 6: Register for this free webinar here.

Previous webinar: March 30

More videos available at AWB's COVID-19 Employer Resources video page.

Audio only is available on our Soundcloud channel.

FAQs

• AWB's Frequently Asked Questions has the most relevant answers to employer-specific questions.
• U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Paycheck Protection Program FAQs for Small Business
• Washington state's official COVID-19 Spread the Facts page
• Employment Security Department's FAQ page
• Health Benefit Exchange FAQ page
• Centers for Disease Control FAQ page
• IRS Filing and Payment Deadlines FAQ page
• Ryan Swanson Law's Employer's FAQs

Financial Resources

Loans

•   NEW  UPDATED: The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering Economic Injury Disaster Loans up to $2 million (flyer). An advance up to $10k is available within 3 days and will not have to be repaid. There is an interest rate of 3.75% for small businesses. Nonprofits are eligible for a 2.75% interest rate. See this slide deck for further information. Apply here.
•   NEW  Kiva provides 0% interest loans up to $15k with a 6 month grace period allowed for greater flexibility. See details and apply here.
• Business Impact NW provides loans to small business and nonprofits. They are more flexible than traditional financial institutions.
• Craft3 offers business lending services between $25k to $3 million to new clients and is extending revised terms to existing clients.
•   NEW  City of Tacoma: COVID-19 Business Loan up to $15k with payments deferred for the first 12 months if your business is located within Tacoma city limits.

Grants

• Department of Commerce has awarded $1.8 million to 17 rural county governments. The Community Development Block Grants can be used for small business support, food and rental assistance, health services and more. Click here for more information.
•   NEW  Delta Dental pledges $10M to help dentists shut down by COVID-19 with two new programs -- the Reimbursement Advance Program and the Practice Assistance Fund. Read more and apply here.
•   NEW  GoFundMe Small Business Relief fund - matching micro-grants up to $500. See details here and click here for FAQs.
• Amazon has created a $5 million Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund to help small companies located within a few blocks of its Seattle headquarters. Click here to learn more and apply for the Amazon neighborhood small business relief fund.
• Social Justice COVID-19 Crisis Fund - Click here if you are a previous grantee of a Social Justice Fund. If not a previous grantee, consider applying for their ongoing Rapid Response Fund.

 

• The Employment Security Department has new emergency rules in place. For example, workers who are ill with COVID-19 can qualify for benefits. Also, workers that are exposed and quarantined while the business remains open can now qualify for unemployment insurance. This ESD Unemployment chart can help determine which benefit applies to your situation. This FAQ page for workers and businesses answers questions and gives resources to help relieve the burden of temporary layoffs.   NEW  Sign up for action alerts to be notified as rules change and expand to include more workers soon!
  • Paid sick and safe leave (and FAQs about how it applies to COVID-19)
  • Unemployment
  • Paid Family Medical Leave (and FAQs about how it applies to COVID-19)
  • Workers' Compensation FAQs and link to apply

Telecommuting Resources

• Virtual meetings and events - consider using one of these free services: Zoom, GoToMeeting, Join.Me, Skype, or other virtual web conferencing apps
• Xfinity - Internet Essentials will increase speeds from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all customers. This speed increase will happen automatically - no action is required by customers. In addition, new customers will receive two months of free service. Click here for more details.
• Jamm - a voice and video collaboration and communication for teams working remotely is offering it free of charge. This service integrates well with Slack.
• Google - Hangouts Meet, which allows up to 250 participants and live streaming up to 100,000 viewers per domain, and G-suite is available to all customers free of charge until July 1, 2020.
• Loom - This video recording and sharing service offers boosts to free service plan, discounted prices on LoomPro and free access for educational institutions through July 1, 2020.
• Microsoft 365 E1 - free 6 month trial
• LinkedIn - 16 courses offered for free - “Remote working - setting yourself and your teams up for success”
• DropBox - offering free Dropbox Business and HelloSign Enterprise subscriptions for 3 months to nonprofits and NGOs focused on fighting COVID-19. If you are an organization working to stop the virus or provide relief, apply here. 
• LogisticsManagement - Librestream Onsight platform remote expert app free. This allows remote work to maintain the benefit of in-person meetings (content markup, shared visual/audio, and more). Register here.

Layoffs

Guidance

• Layoff assistance for Workers and Businesses

Temporary layoffs

• Apply for SharedWork, a smart alternative to layoffs
• Temporary layoffs: Standby for up to 8 weeks, partial employment status or furlough

Permanent layoffs

• Educate employees to contact WorkSource
• Job search or retraining through Dislocated Worker program
• File a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN)

 NEW 

Hiring Immediately

•  NEW  Guidance from Zippia: How the American worker can survive financially during the next 3 months -- helpful guidance article that includes job links for both remote and local work
•  NEW  Washington's Employment Security Department is hiring additional staff in claims center operations. Click here for more information.
•  NEW  WorkSource has a list of critical job opportunities, especially in the grocery store, cleaning, healthcare and governmental industries. For searchable Washington job opportunities in your area, go to WorkSourceWA.com.
  • WorkSource Seattle/King County - Immediate employment opportunities
  • WorkSource Spokane - Immediate employment opportunities
• Albertsons (Safeway, Randalls, United Supermarkets) - Apply here. Hiring 30,000 positions: delivery drivers, personal shoppers, distribution centers, and call center
• Amazon - Apply here. Hiring 100,000 immediately.
• CVS - Apply here. 50,000 positions to be hired immediately.
• Walmart - 150,000 to be hired immediately
• Instacart - 300,000 to be hired immediately
• Dollar General - Apply here. They are adding up to 50,000 employees by the end of April.
• Dollar Tree - Apply here. 25,000 full and part time workers to be hired for stores and distribution centers.
• PepsiCo - Apply here. Immediately hiring 6,000 full time front line employees.
• Papa John’s  - Apply here. Hiring 20,000 immediately.
• Domino’s - Apply here. Hiring 10,000 immediately.
• Pizza Hut - Apply here. Immediately hiring more than 30,000. New drivers can start working in as little as 5 hours after hire.
• 7-Eleven - Apply here. Hiring up to 20,000 new employees immediately.
• GE Healthcare - Apply here. Needs manufacturing employees to build medical equipment.
• Fred Meyer/Kroger - Apply here. Hiring more than 10,000 workers immediately.
• Shipt - (competitor to Instacart) Apply here. Hiring thousands immediately.
   

Toolkits, Checklists, and more Resources

Federal

• U.S. Department of Labor COVID-19 Resource page
• FEMA Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Whole-of-Government Response (pdf)
• FEMA - How To Help (Donations, Volunteering, Private Sector) National Association of Manufacturing’s COVID-19 Resources
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Resources
  • Graphics toolkit
  • Resources, Response and Impact
  • Workplace Tips for Employees
  • Coronavirus Response Toolkit

State

• Washington state's official coronavirus response page
• Governor Inslee’s office resource links and links specifically for businesses
• Governor Inslee’s News Releases
• Washington Department of Commerce Small Business Crisis Planner
• Washington Small Business Development Center's Business Survival Strategies (PDF)
• Employment Security Department's COVID-19 Newsroom and employer information page
• Washington State Labor & Industries Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak Resources
• Washington State Department of Health's Novel Coronavirus Outbreak page
• Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's coronavirus response
• Veteran affairs coronavirus update page