COVID-19 newsletter archive

NEWSLETTER FROM 5/12

Hello friends,

This email is a comprehensive list of all of the requirements for re-opening, safety protocols and the state requirements to doing so. Please fill out the quick survey at the bottom of the page to fill us in on your experience of re-opening and financial help. It will help guide us in our conversations with state officials. 

RE-OPENING: When? How?

It’s not fully clear when your shop will be able to re-open. Tattoo shops have been included in Phase 1, but every county must apply and be approved by the state before they can open. In Portland, it is said to be 3-4 weeks before Multnomah County even applies. This application is contingent on the availability of safe PPE and some other important factors. Here is a link to find out which COUNTIES have applied and the factors they must adhere to. 

PHASE 1 RE-OPENING GUIDANCE

Specific Guidance for Personal Services Providers from the Oregon Health Authority.

SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR RE-OPENING SPECIFIC TO TATTOOING

1.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html

Here are a few extra links that get more specific to our industry. They may have some overlap, but get a little more in depth. Feel free to explore them and reach out with any question that you might have:

2. Guidance for Body-Modification Facilities to Plan for, and Respond to, Coronavirus Disease 2019, from Dan Gilsdorf, some doctors and his associate, a retired infectious disease and public health specialist. 

3.  Safety Protocol including CDC guidelines and Facility Opening in Covid 

4. Basic Course on Covid prevention:
https://openwho.org/courses/COVID-19-IPC-EN

5. Covid Risks and how to avoid them: 
 https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

EMPLOYEE SAFETY & DAILY SCREENING QUESTIONS

We implore each shop and all employees to work together and discuss your safety protocols before going back to work. That includes daily personal health checks upon coming into the building for every employee and client. 

Prevent and Reduce Transmission Among Employees

Monitor federal, state, and local public health communications about COVID-19 regulations, guidance, and recommendations and ensure that workers have access to that information. Frequently check the CDC COVID-19 website.

Actively encourage sick employees to stay home:

Employees who have symptoms should notify their supervisor and stay home.

Consider conducting daily in-person or virtual health checks (e.g., symptom and/or temperature screening) of employees before they enter the facility, in accordance with state and local public health authorities and, if available, your occupational health services:

  • If implementing in-person health checks, conduct them safely and respectfully. Employers may use social distancing, barrier or partition controls, or personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect the screener. However, reliance on PPE alone is a less effective control and is more difficult to implement, given PPE shortages and training requirements.

  • Complete the health checks in a way that helps maintain social distancing guidelines, such as providing multiple screening entries into the building.

  • Follow guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissionexternal icon regarding confidentiality of medical records from health checks.

  • To prevent stigma and discrimination in the workplace, make employee health screenings as private as possible. Do not make determinations of risk based on race or country of origin and be sure to maintain confidentiality of each individual’s medical status and history.

CDC POSTER

The CDC posters for safety protocol for Covid-19 must be displayed by law for clients and employees to have on view. You can download them under "OHA Guidance Signage and Rules" HERE.

GOOGLE SURVEY

Please take this QUICK SURVEY that addresses how all of you are feeling about being included in Phase 1 of re-opening and your access to PPE. 

Feel free to share this with your co-workers and shop owners. While we won't be able to go back to business as usual (at least not for the foreseeable future), we can take steps to protect ourselves and our clients. We want everyone to be as safe and informed as you can be. 

Love, 
R.O.T.



NEWSLETTER FROM 4/24

Hello friends,

Our focus has shifted slightly for this newsletter from giving you the regular tattoo related information. Below are action steps you can take to help support our community of independent contractors.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR UNEMPLOYMENT UPDATE

They have begun the testing phase of the unemployment for independent contractors. Some of you may have gotten emails from the Oregon Unemployment pilot program that they are rolling out. For those of you that haven't, don't worry, it isn't fully live.

There will be a lag between the start of applications and when benefits will start going out. But the department has been clear that all claims will be calculated retroactively, so in spite of the delay, all Oregonians should be made whole for the claims they are owed. The department will also publish a video soon to guide workers through the application process. We will share all of this once it is live. 

FINCANCIAL QUESTIONS


RENTALS & EVICTIONS
 

If you provide your landlord with written notice you should be able to defer your payments for 6 months (Jan 10th 2021) but the rent is due in full. Landlords cannot charge late fees/penalties.

Evictions are completely on hold until July 9th. After that the tenants have 6 months to pay back rent. People should keep a written record if the landlord refuses partial payment if offered, and should not be pressured into making a payment plan if they don't want to. This is not a rent freeze,  but it's something.

Any questions can be directed to Mateo Hermida at the Legal Aid Services of Oregon office, (503) 908-9574 or go to www.oregonrentersrights.org for more information.

PROPERTY TAX DEFERMENT OR FREEZES


After talking to a representative in the Multnomah county property tax office today they told our aid resource Jenna Goldin there is no current forgiveness at all for property taxes, and the representative urged us to fight back about it and call for a moratorium on property tax!

Whether you own a home or not, it helps landlords give relief to renters. It also helps homeowners hold onto some of their money for the present because it may be a few weeks until independent contractors receive our unemployment. 
Here is the number for the
Multnomah County Property Tax office:
503-998-3326. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND INFORMATION


For constant, real-time financial updates by a professional that knows more than we do, go follow Jenna Goldin. She has been our source for the financial information about rent, evictions, and property tax deferment. Here is a link to her IG and her email. 

WHEN CAN WE RETURN TO WORK?

The governors office has rolled out a detailed road map of phases to re-opening the state. It is detailed in this ARTICLE and is pretty hopeful if you want to check it out. 

The Health Licensing office does not have specific information on when non-essential businesses will be allowed to resume until the Governor lifts Executive Order 20-12. The Governor’s Office has formed several committees that address issues, including the operation of non-essential businesses during the COVID -19 pandemic state of emergency.

Information and resources can be obtained through the  Governor’s COVID-19 Resources for Oregonians webpage at https://govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19.  The webpage provides information on the Governor’s Coronavirus Economic Advisory Council, which includes the Secretary of State’s Office of Small Business Assistance and may be able to provide you with additional information, including plans for reopening small business and avenues to get involved.

BLUMENAUER'S LIST

It’s really helpful and addresses local utility companies and their response to COVID and their customers. Here’s the LINK (there’s a ton of useful info)

COMMUNICATE WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT W/ RESISTBOT

Join is in putting pressure on our local and state representatives in calling for a rent/mortgage and utility freeze. They sometimes aren't even aware of how their constituents are being affected, but we can let them know. We will be using an existing text messaging service called Resistbot for this process. It is fast and easy, and it works!


RESISTBOT INSTRUCTIONS

1. Type in 'RESIST" to 50409

2. It will prompt you to answer a few questions if you have not used it before.

3. Choose Congress or State. Congress will umbrella your house & senate congressional reps all together. If you type in State it will reach Gov. Brown plus your local and state reps. We recommend doing one and then following up immediately with the other. 

4. Copy and paste one of our prompts below into the message. When you are finished, send the word "done" by itself and it will handle the opening and closing of the message including addressing the officials by their names. 

A. As a singular independent tattooer:
(Insert name of elected official), as one of the 1,324 licensed tattoo artists in the state of Oregon I stand with the independent contractors and self-employed people of Oregon. We demand a state-wide rent & utility freeze for the duration of this crisis. We are not eligible for unemployment yet because the system is not ready for us. We cannot pay until we are paid. Please lend us your support.

B. As an independent contractor in solidarity:
(Insert name of elected official), I stand with the Independent contractors and self employed people of Oregon. We demand a state-wide rent & utility freeze for the duration of this crisis. We are not eligible for unemployment yet- the new system is not ready for us. We cannot pay until we are paid. Please lend us your support.

5. Give it your approval by sending "send".

6.  Use  "Independent Contractor Demands" as your title. 

7. You will receive a confirmation that your letter was sent and who it was sent to!

8. While you're at it, type and send the word USPS to sign a petition to keep the postal service up and running. ;)

CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR UNEMPLOYMENT UPDATES

Subscribe using this link for changes, updates or news for unemployment relating to independent contractors. When it goes live, they will email subscribers and you can apply immediately. 

We are communicating with the state and are working to create guidelines on PPE for when we are able to re-open. Feel free the reach out with any suggestions so we can compile adequate guidelines, We want everyone to be included.

Love, 
R.O.T.


NEWSLETTER FROM 4/17

Hello friends,

Please read below for all updates from the Oregon Unemployment office that we received yesterday from our accountant source Jenna Goldin of Asset to the Resistance. We couldn’t get this in writing, but it is the most info we’ve gotten directly from their representatives in weeks. 

The state is still rolling out the program under which self-employed workers will be eligible. The infrastructure isn’t built yet to aid independent contractors, so people have been getting denied because there’s no system in place to help them yet. Basically everyone that is applying that fits this status and doesn't have another part time job is denied for now, so you are not alone. 

Below is some very important information for what to do NOW. 

WHO IS IMPACTED? 

• Free-lancer, independent contractor, small business owner
• Partnership owner
• S-Corp Owner who pays themselves wages but does not pay State Unemployment tax

WHAT’S NEW?

*** SUPER IMPORTANT ***

• According to the representative at the unemployment offices, if you have already been filing a claim, then you can keep filing (BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO and it will NOT impact your unemployment if you stop). When the new system is unveiled you can begin applying then. 

• If you have NOT filed a claim yet then please try and wait until the unemployment site is ready to handle self-employed people. 

• There is a red link below to subscribe to receive updates directly from the unemployment office that will let you know when the new system has been opened and you can begin applying. 

WILL BENEFITS BE RETRO-ACTIVE?

• If you have been impacted by COVID-19, then YES whether you have filed a claim or not

• Unemployment might go back as far as February 2nd depending on the individual situations. This will be determined once the Unemployment Department can establish the “Statutory Requirements” for the kind of income that is eligible or how and when people lost money due to COVID-19.

NOW WHAT?

1. Stop calling unemployment. It is preventing them from getting the system in place and bogging down their work.

2. Start calling utility companies, landlords, mortgage companies, state reps and senators to try and get support around delaying payments!!! No payments until we are paid!

3. If you haven’t filed your 2019 taxes, it might be a good idea to do so at this time. 

4. Gather your year-to-date income and expenses for 2020 because this might help you prove to unemployment how much income you have lost due to COVID-19.

CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR UNEMPLOYMENT UPDATES

Subscribe using this link for changes, updates or news for unemployment relating to independent contractors. When it goes live, they will email subscribers and you can apply immediately. 

People have applied for SNAP benefits and received assistance within days. Apply now if you are in need: 
https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ASSISTANCE/FOOD-BENEFITS/Pages/Eligibility-Apply.aspx

We will be following up soon with more action steps for getting the issues of independent contractors recognized by local and state government officials here in Oregon.

Stay tuned and stay safe out there.
Love, 
R.O.T.


NEWSLETTER FROM 4/2 (Note: Unemployment info is now out of date but links to resources are relevant!


Hi all!

Based on feedback we have received from our last newsletter and some current information from trusted sources, we have some more helpful guidance to share with you. Hope you find it all useful in some way. 

Helpful tips for Oregon State Unemployment:
https://govstatus.egov.com/ORUnemployment_COVID19

1. You must file for unemployment, then you have to make a weekly claim to get paid. You have to log on once a week and answer a questionnaire. 
2. Just keep following the questions for 'self employed'. After that you need to claim your first week which is the next button down where it says "claim".
3. When you fill that out, you must be available and able bodied to work.
4. You don't need to fill out the part where you disclose where you looked for jobs. Just click the button all the way at the bottom that says you are returning to work when you are able to go back to your same employer.
5. Use your taxes as a gauge for how you answer your questions.

SNAP benefits:
https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ASSISTANCE/FOOD-BENEFITS/Pages/Eligibility-Apply.aspx

ACA Health Care Recipients:
Take note! If you buy your healthcare through the .gov marketplace you should update your income.

This link has a ton of information from supporting vulnerable populations to political and economic analysis of the stimulus. Go check it out!

CARES Act
Last Friday the government passed the CARES act and it goes into effect this Friday April 3rd. It will provide essential and FREE funding for small businesses AS WELL AS the self-employed.  Below are the important details:

1. Who can can apply? Small businesses with less than $100k per person in payroll each month. Self-employed, independent contractors, & gig workers. This includes musicians, artists and tattooers!

2. What do you get? 2.5x your monthly payroll, salary, income, chedda, scratch, scrilla, CREAM etc. For example if you make $5k a month you will get $12.5k in funding.

3. How does it work? Fill out the application / State your monthly payroll expenses or self employed income / Submit to your bank, credit union, or lender / Get paid in just a few days.

4. When can I apply? Small businesses including LLC's on April 3rd / Self-employed & independent contractors on April 10th.

5. Do I have to pay it back?  NO...well kinda - if you can show that the money was used for payroll, business rent, utilities, and the interest on loans or credit cards - that portion of the loan WILL BE forgiven. In addition 25% of expenses NOT mentioned above will be forgiven too. 

6. What do I do next? Contact your bank or credit union IMMEDIATELY to see if they are an approved lender for the SBA PPP Loan.  NOTE - the list is WAY BIGGER than the standard SBA Lenders.  If your bank is not approved, here is a list of SBA Lenders.  Make sure you ask them for a copy of the app (found here) and any additional documents you need to be putting together.

Stay safe out there.
Love, 
R.O.T.

FIRST NEWSLETTER AFTER SHOP CLOSURES - 3/23


Greetings Oregon tattooers,

We understand and can relate to what an intense and stressful time this is for all of us. As licensed tattooers, we have been looking to our state government and health department for guidance on what measures to take to protect us and our community. Beginning March 24th, Governor Kate Brown has issued a closure of non-essential businesses including all tattoo shops with an indefinite end date. Please find the attached PDF for the most recent executive order. 

We will continue to follow this closely and update everyone as soon as we have any further information. Please see the below list of resources that we have compiled to help aid you and your family. 

Please keep in touch with us on our IG, @reformoregontattooing. Don't hesitate to reach out if you think there is anything imperative we should be sharing or need to know about the pandemic and our industry. 

Best,
R.O.T.

FILING FOR UNEMPLOYMENT
Even thought it says that self employed people may not be eligible to receive unemployment, it is recommended to do so because it could possibly mean a tax credit later on.

https://secure.emp.state.or.us/ocs4/index.cfm?u=F20200311A092508B69498364.1356&lang=E

Imperial College team report on COVID-19
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1239975682643357696.html

OPB: Temporary moratorium on evictions
https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-multnomah-county-moratorium-evictions-coronavirus/

Small business association disaster loan

https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/

Artist and Activist relief fund. Created by The Soze Foundation, TaskForce and Invisible Hand, to support artists and activists whose work has been impacted by COVID-19.

$250 grants to selected applicants on an on-going basis

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQQ20bnSJkZzMx_nANG9UNu8f6q3wyiUYJ-Q2t2rDc6eE9nA/viewform (copy and paste into browser)

Red Cross is calling for blood donations at this time:
https://www.redcross.org/local/oregon.html

Red cross disaster preparedness document
https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/delta/20630101_cascades_region_prepare_guide_final_jan8.pdf

DONATIONS

If you are able to donate face masks, gloves, disinfectants, hospital gowns, etc. it sounds like the need is dire and we haven't even reached the apex of virus activity. Here are some drop-off sites and contacts for getting those supplies to those who need it most at this time.

Donations requested for medical personnel:

MASKS
• Procedural masks
• Surgical masks
• N95 respirators and N95 filters
• ther respirators
• Face shields
• Splash shields

OTHER

• Latex free gloves
• Gowns
• Hand sanitizer
• Disinfecting wipes

PLACES TO DONATE

OHSU contact for supplies drive:
COVID-19supplies@ohsu.edu

Donation drop-off locations for
Multnomah County Health and Portland Fire & Rescue:

Portland Fire & Rescue 12-4pm M-F
Fire MarshalL Office Parking Lot
1300 SE Gideon St.
Portland, OR 97202

Multnomah County Headquarters
Loading dock on 6th St.
501 SE Hawthorne
Portland, OR 97214

Sticker Ninja is organizing a supplies drive and will be doing drop off. They are collecting supplies at their location at 1105 SE Morrison. You can leave the items on their steps, DM them @stickerninja on IG to let them know if you are coming.

Reform Oregon Tattooing