Today’s press release announced the Hospitality Emergency Loan Program (HELP) to provide financial relief for restaurants, bars, and other hospitality industry businesses.

• The no-interest loans are capped at $10,000 per business per month. The money can cover rent, utilities and other unavoidable bills but cannot be used for personnel costs. The loans have a 10-year term with payments deferred for nine months.
• The Division of Small Business will administer the program using existing state funds and is aiming to have an application available later this week.
• Businesses can find out if they are eligible by visiting business.delaware.gov/coronavirus

Additionally, today Governor Carney approved the following changes to Delaware’s unemployment benefits program for the hospitality industry:

• The Department of Labor (DOL) will begin processing unemployment claims as they are received with the goal of benefits becoming available within a week.
• DOL will allow part time income while collecting benefits as long as employees can demonstrate their decreased hours and earnings.
• DOL will not classify tipped employees as minimum wage earners as long as their tips are reported as wages.