Postcards From The Pandemic: An 'Income Unicorn' Gets Lost In Unemployment

Lisa Langford is a playwright, actor and greeting card writer, and for a time she was caught in limbo in Ohio’s unemployment system.

Independent contractors like Langford typically aren’t eligible for traditional unemployment. So when COVID-19 led to widespread layoffs and furloughs, contractors had to wait for Ohio to set up a new system for them.

Langford went online and applied for that help, known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), only to receive a notice that she should apply for traditional benefits instead.

That didn’t make sense to Langford, so she filed an appeal. And then she waited.

Last week, a claims processor called her back. Langford learned that in the eyes of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, she wasn’t an independent contracting writer at all — she was an actor, paid as a traditional W-2 employee.

Langford then had a chance to explain the patchwork of payments that make up an actor’s income: plays that run for weeks and tiny checks from old TV shows that arrive now and then for years.

“I asked point blank, if I had not done a show, if I had not acted in any plays last year, would I be able to get the greater income through PUA? She said, ‘Yeah,’” Langford said.

Navigating Unemployment

Because I’m an independent contractor, I was waiting to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. I pre-registered, and when I was registering properly, I kept getting a pop up that said, no, you’ve got to apply for regular unemployment. And what I found out was that my income earned as an actor, which is kind of like a part-time hobby, was what they were basing my unemployment off of.

I normally do one show a year, and that might be, I don’t know, eight weeks…But for some reason, I was just really lucky, and I got two shows at Dobama and two shows at the Beck Center.

And that kicked me into being eligible for regular unemployment, even though the bulk of my income comes from independent contracting.

I called the main office, and then my complaint or claim or what have you was forwarded to the claims processor, and they called me.

She was like, “ We’ve got reports of your earnings from 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.” And I’m trying to explain to her that those are residuals from 1993.

The claims contractor was bewildered at like, six cents from 20th Century Fox, and stuff like that. And I’m explaining to her, I was an actor. I am an actor, but I was a professional actor 20 years ago, and I still get, however miniscule they are, I still get residuals. And once, that really made it clear to her, like, oh, this is just a weird thing. Like I’m some kind of bizarre income unicorn.

Ripple Effects

As the state opens back up, it’s like, who are you opening up to? I get my computer fixed at this small family business. Something was wrong, so I took it in, and they were like, that’s $400. And I was like, I don’t have that right now. I can’t afford that right now.

It’s not just affecting me, it’s affecting their business too.

Help Finally Arrives

I did a praise dance in the post office when I mailed my landlord my rent check. I was just so grateful to God that I was able to pay my rent this month.

And I don’t know what’s going to happen in July, but at least I know I have a home base for June.