Bureaucratic snag leaves thousands of gig workers shut out of relief aid

www.nbcnews.com: When the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out almost all of Daniel Herman's coming work, he was hopeful that he would get help from the federal government.

Herman, 30, a videographer and musician from Boulder, Colorado, believed he would qualify for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, a new federal relief program for self-employed gig workers and independent contractors. The program was designed to support freelancers like Herman, who would not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits.