Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico really hard and pretty much destroyed our retail business location. Insurance doesn’t want to pay for damages to our business and we will have no further revenues until it gets sorted out. We can’t rebuild our business (which takes time) until we end litigation (will also take a significant amount of time) so no money is expected to come in. In the meantime our wages will be lowered to minimum wage in order for the business to stay afloat. I was at $60K and will now make the equivalent of 11.28/hour. All employees at company will take pay cut. I know it is a crappy situation but I fear I will not be able to make a living given how I have a mortgage to pay (1,000/mo), auto loan (350/mo) and student loans (300/mo), among other bills (food, gas, utilities, cell, etc). I only have $1,000 in my bank account as emergency funds and no credit cards because I have been trying to pay down my student loans as much as possible but I fear that will be gone really quick given how gas prices have shot up, food is scarce, no electricity means we can’t cook to lower costs, etc. We were told that our wages would be reduced only until we get back on our feet but we fear that we will be stuck with reduced wages for a significant time. We estimate an approximate 6+ months to rebuild and without electricity it may take longer to achieve and be more expensive. We aren’t being billed for cell service and utilities this month but I fear this won’t be repeated next month because those employees also need income. Does anybody know of any government help or other things I can do for people in this unique type of situation? I heard on the radio and from volunteering that Disaster Unemployment Assistance has not been authorized for Puerto Rico yet. Puerto Rico was destroyed so getting another well paying job in this time is as probable as me winning the lottery (hint: no electricity means no internet or lottery here).
TLDR: My job temporarily lowered wages to minimum (11.28/hour) because of lost revenue from Hurricane Maria until insurance pays and we rebuild. Is there any type of government help or other things I can do to compensate for this type of situation? I heard on the radio that Disaster Unemployment Assistance has not been approved for Puerto Rico yet.
PD I may not be able to respond to your questions quickly given how limited our cell service is but I will do my best!
Submitted October 03, 2017 at 06:34AM by angelfire011 http://ift.tt/2g7fDo9
