**Ukraine and Russia Crisis

• Be empathetic
• Natural Disasters & Social Unrest > URC 2022 ZD categories should be used for all interactions
• If you're unable to answer the question you're asked:
  • Respond to the customer with: “Upwork has been carefully monitoring the events in Eastern Europe and understands that for those impacted by this crisis, many questions may exist. We currently have this help resource center to help keep everyone up-to-date, but your specific question isn't answered there at this time. I'm going to reach out to our management team and help find an answer for you and get back to you as soon as I have one available."
  • Save the ticket as “open”
  • Add the question to the customer-facing-ukraine-russia-crisis channel

Use FAQs on:

• "Updates Relating to Recent Events in Eastern Europe" landing page - These are primarily focused on the geographical sanctions / financial sanctions / overall updates. For any FAQs that mention reaching out for appeals/support, seeing as the customer is already chatting with you, please do not send them to the Support or Appeal email address.
• “Suspended Operations in Russia and Belarus” FAQ page - These are specifically geared towards the Upwork announcement on 3/7/2022 in regards to suspending operations within Russia and Belarus.

Agent Handling & Questions [no direct verbiage for customers unless otherwise specified]

Q: I am a freelancer and you suspended me, but I am not in a sanctioned region.  How can I appeal? Guidance for CS: See the “Appeals” dropdown below.

Q: I understand why my account is now suspended, but Message Center is blocked and I can’t contact my client/freelancer anymore. Can you fix this?

*If you receive this case, please link to this PT here and let your TL know immediately so we can fix that. No TS/TA is needed.

Q: How do the region sanctions vs. bank sanctions impact at Upwork? 

Region sanctions are currently only as displayed here (this link is avail. on the landing page); currently only the “so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) regions of Ukraine.” If someone is located in one of these regions, they can no longer create new contracts, but can continue working on their contracts until March 23rd. No other locations outside of those 2 regions within Ukraine are currently sanctioned, but please remember, this is an evolving situation. See here for more specifics.

Bank sanctions are currently for banks listed here (this link is avail. on the landing page). Unlike region sanctions above, these go into effect immediately. This does not impact if a FL or CL can work on Upwork. It only impacts their payment method. In these cases, we notify them via SMF and the payment method is automatically deleted. See here for more specifics.

Q: I received an email informing me that I may have a contract with a freelancer/client in a sanctioned region and/or Russia or Belarus due to the Ukraine/Russia crisis that is ongoing. May I please know which freelancer/client and contract this is so I know how to proceed?

Check out the contracts and pull up the CLs/FLs in OBO. CSS Notes for a FL/CL should identify if they are in a sanctioned region or in Russia/Belarus. You CAN provide the customer with the contract name / FL or CL name as they’d see it in their view. Along with that, you can provide info here (if a geographical sanction) or here if a Russia/Belarus suspension in case they need more details.

Q: I’m a FL and I processed a withdrawal, but the bank the funds were going to is now sanctioned. What’s going to happen to my money? / CS ACTION - How to reimburse for withdrawal fees.

We do have an FAQ to help with this here called “If a bank is sanctioned after a wire transfer starts processing - will this come back to Upwork?”, but along with that, as a CS internal processing step:

We can reimburse the customer any fee they paid for that withdrawal. Please see a TL for approval/processing.

Team Lead Only Process:

1. Confirm the customer’s withdrawal came back to us due to a sanctioned bank as well as the withdrawal charge

2. Go to OBO  > Own Account Entities tab > click the wrench icon > click “Other Operations” > click “Adjust” on the left-hand side

3. Enter the amount for the adjustment

4. Select the withdrawal fee option for the “Adjustment Reason”

5. In the “Description in trx history” field, this is what will show in the customer’s transaction history, so we want to be specific for both the customer and the Finance team. Add in “Reversal of withdrawal fee - ref ID [include ref ID for that transaction]”

Both the memo and the CSS Note will be the same information:

[ACTION] Reversing withdrawal fee 

[ADD AMOUNT] insert proper amount here

[DEPARTMENT] CS

[CAUSE] Impacted by Ukraine/Russia

[RT] insert ZD ticket URL

7. For the “Reason” under CSS Notes, select “reversal for wd fees” reason from drop-down  

8. Click Adjust. The adjustment will be posted on the AE upon approval by an escrow agent.

9. Add info to the Financial Impact from Ukraine/Russia Crisis sheet

Q: I’m a FL and I need to add a new UPM and/or added a new UPM, but don’t want to wait the 3 days for processing. Can you help? / CS ACTION - How to bypass 3 day UPM processing time.

We do have an FAQ to help with this here called” I am a freelancer or client but I’m not in Ukraine, Russia, or Belarus - but my payment method isn’t working. What should I do?”, but along with that, as a CS internal processing step:

We can bypass this 3-day hold period for the customer:

• Go to OBO > Own Account Entities tab > find the disbursement UPM the FL is referring to (you should see the date was entered today or within the last 3 days + NOTVALIDYET, like here - if they have not yet entered one, go ahead and walk them through that process before continuing)

• Once confirmed, see a TL.

TL BYPASS STEPS:

• Click the UPM based on the above info

• Scroll down to the Activation delay section

• Fill in CSS Notes as follows:

[ACTION] Revoke activation delay for [INSERT ACCOUNT TYPE]

[DEPARTMENT] CS

[CAUSE] Customer account affected by financial and/or location based sanctions

[NOTE] Waiving 3 day hold for newly added UPM

[NEXT STEP] Send macro titled “Updated UPM > 3 Day hold > Activation Delay Waived

[RT] [ADD IN ZD TICKET URL]

• Send macro mentioned in CSS Notes above

Q: I’m a CL and I want to give funds to my FL as a donation due to their current situation re: Ukraine/Russia. I want them to get the full amount without any fees. How can I do this? 

If a FL is asking to donate, they can do this, too! See FAQ here: “I’m a freelancer and want to support other freelancers in Ukraine by purchasing their project in Project Catalog. How can I do this?” 

AS A FIRST OPTION - Let’s try the new donations via Catalog. Check to see if the FL the CL wants to donate to has Catalog projects set up and are eligible to receive donations. To do this, sudo into the CL account and check out the FL’s profile. If you can see the Project Catalog section on the FL’s page and the donation button is there when clicking a project, guide the CL in this direction.

AS A SECOND OPTION - If the FL has no Catalog projects, but appear to be in Ukraine, share with the CL this option. They can read more about it here and share with their freelancer here. Let them know it’s possible their FL is eligible for donations and to try that route.

AS A THIRD OPTION - If the FL is not eligible for Catalog donations and/or they are unable to set it up and/or the CL just wants to send them money right now, then follow the below.

Share with the CL they can issue a bonus and walk them through these steps, if they don’t know how. 

To help figure out how much the CL should issue to their FL based on the amount they want their FL to have in-hand, ask them how much they want the FL to have in their account. You can then use this calculator here (internal only calculator) to find the exact amount the CL will want to issue:

• Choose “How much should I pay if the freelancer would like to receive a specific amount?”

• Enter in the Lifetime Billings the CL has with that FL

• • To check this, go to CL’s OBO account > Own Companies section > find the CL assignment with the FL

• • Grab this number from the FL’s profile and grab this number from the proper CL section under Own Companies

• • Click “Go to” at the top of OBO > “Relationships”

• • Enter in the FL’s number under “Vendor sidee” and the CL’s number under “Client side” > click “Search”

• • Scroll to the bottom to see the Total Relationship Value here

• Enter in amount the CL wants the FL to receive

• Click “Calculate” and the amount here will showcase how much the CL should submit in a bonus for the FL to receive the desired amount

*If a CL is upset that they need to pay more to avoid the FL service fees (e.g. claims Upwork is profiting from their donation), please reach out to a TL. We can possibly make the decision to give the FL the difference. TLs, if approved, please follow “I’m a FL and impacted by the events in Ukraine/Russia. Can you please not take any FL fees from the CL payment I have coming in?” below.

Q: I’m a FL and impacted by the events in Ukraine/Russia. Can you please not take any FL fees from the CL payment I have coming in?

If both the following apply (internal only criteria), please send to a TL for processing:

• The FL is located within Ukraine

• They specifically ask for us to not take fees from their personal withdrawal

   

   

Team Lead Only Process:

1. Confirm the customer’s service fee charges

2. Go to OBO  > Own Account Entities tab > click the wrench icon > click “Other Operations” > click “Adjust” on the left-hand side

3. Enter the amount for the adjustment

4. Select the withdrawal fee option for the “Adjustment Reason”

5. In the “Description in trx history” field, this is what will show in the customer’s transaction history, so we want to be specific for both the customer and the Finance team. Add in “Reversal of service fee - ref ID [include ref ID for that transaction]”

Both the memo and the CSS Note will be the same information:

[ACTION] Reversing withdrawal fee 

[ADD AMOUNT] insert proper amount here

[DEPARTMENT] CS

[CAUSE] Impacted by Ukraine/Russia

[RT] insert ZD ticket URL

7. For the “Reason” under CSS Notes, select “service fees for sf” reason from drop-down  

8. Click Adjust. The adjustment will be posted on the AE upon approval by an escrow agent.

9. Add info to the Financial Impact from Ukraine/Russia Crisis sheet

Q: I’m a FL in Ukraine. I’m not currently in a sanctioned area, but my CL ended our contract and gave me bad feedback. This isn’t my fault because of the current situation. Can you remove this from my JSS and/or remove this bad feedback? It’s hard enough to get jobs right now without having bad feedback/low JSS to worry about!

Note: If the FL/Agency has an eligible TR perk available; follow that process first here. If no eligible perk / not TR, continue below.

CS agents can remove from JSS if the following is confirmed:

• Requester needs to be one of the following: individual freelancer who worked the contract, OR if an agency, the agency owner, admin, or a business manager

• Must be a closed Upwork job only

• Job must not be already excluded from JSS

• Job must have been closed on February 20, 2022 or after

• 1 approval per FL is allowed without TL approval; check for CSS note: “Ukraine Feedback Removal: Assignment...” within OBO (TLs, see cs-leadership-team Slack channel if 1+ cases come up)

If the FL is requesting feedback removal for a contract that’s associated to an agency and the FL is no longer associated to that agency:

• The feedback can be removed from the FL’s profile, but not the JSS as the agency owns the JSS for any contracts done with the agency

• IF the agency matches the qualifications above and the FL is okay with it, then we can send an email to the AO asking if they’d like to process a feedback/JSS removal request per request of one of their past FL

How to remove JSS, if approved based on the above:

Q: How do we treat suspended customers requesting account closure?

Any requests for closure can be honored (specifically with the below steps) provided there are no other unrelated account limitations that would otherwise prevent closure. As long as there are NO other limitations:

1. See KB **Close / Restore Accounts for guidance on closing the account first (simply to check if they quality for closure, but do not actually close account)
2. Go into OBO and confirm type of suspension via CSS note:
   • For accounts suspended due to location based sanction, if it’s prior to March 23, 2022, see step 3 (if after said date, it’s ok to follow the normal close account steps) 
   • For accounts suspended due to Project 322, if it’s prior to May 1, 2022, see step 3 (if after said date, it’s ok to follow the normal close account steps) 
3. Click “Suspended” under the Identity section (we’re about to apply a suspension signal to ensure that the account is not inadvertently re-opened without appropriate limitations)
4. Click the dropdown under “Add Suspension” 
5. Select code 474 - Freeze Account - Block User Login
6. Add CSS Note:
   1. 1. • [ACTION] Freeze Account - Block User Login.
         • [DEPARTMENT] CS
         • [CAUSE] Customer account affected by financial and/or location based sanctions and/or Project 322 suspension.
         • [NOTE] The customer has requested closure of the account.
         • [NEXT STEP] Account should not be restored without successful appeal. See KB “**Ukraine and Russia Crisis” for handling instructions. Customer must present valid documents showing they are located outside of Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) regions of Ukraine, in addition to Russia or Belarus.
7. Under Tag Category, select “Important Note”
8. Click “Apply Changes”
9. Send macro titled: Account, Registration & Password > Account Closed

We can try the urgent billing method process for them, but do add a disclaimer that we cannot confirm successful transmissions as payment processors have their own limitations, but we can certainly try.

This FAQ isn’t being added to the external pages, but can be used reactively if a customer is asking about this.

We fully understand the significant impact this decision has on our Upwork community in Russia and Belarus, and recognize the swift adjustments that are being made to process this announcement. At this time, as freelancers located in Russia and Belarus are winding down any existing contracts until May 1, 2022, we are focusing our efforts on those impacted in Ukraine. If this changes at all, we will certainly be in touch.

We honor the relationships that exist between our customers, and should you relocate to a region where we operate, we will be eager to support you in continuing your work on our platform. Additionally, we hope to be able to resume operations and bring our mission back to Russia and Belarus in the future, should the geopolitical situation change.

We hope that a path to peace is ahead.

Internal FAQs:

Important: These are internal questions asked by those within Upwork and answers are provided by our Legal team. If there is a formal FAQ available for customers, it will be added to one of the FAQ pages listed above.

Questions regarding Russia and Belarus

Questions on Enterprise:

When is the last piece of work to be billed? 

 The last date for your freelancers to invoice you (through hourly contracts or submitting a milestone) is May 1, 2022.  Those amounts will be included on your next regular invoice. We encourage you to complete projects and submit payment as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee continued availability of our payment partners.

If a client is headquartered in the US, however the primary Hiring Manager is located in Russia or Belarus, will the Hiring Manager be able to use the platform? 

 No, HMs will indeed be impacted if they are located in Russia or Belarus.

Questions from Ukrainians / from Ukrainian freelancers

Are you encouraging people to seek out talent outside of Ukraine right now?

No, we are not. Clients are still able and encouraged to work with Ukrainian talent.

Questions about fees

What about fees? Will you be lowering them?

No.

Why have you chosen to donate the funds instead of giving that money directly to freelancers?
We chose to donate to a trusted relief organization doing work on the ground so that the funds could be put to immediate and broad use where needed most. 

How did you select the charities you are donating to?

We selected Direct Relief based on their mission and their work to provide requested medical aid, from oxygen concentrators to critical care medicines, while preparing to offer longer-term medical aid to people displaced or affected by the conflict.

Internal FAQ

What took so long for you to make this decision when other companies announced last week?

Upwork has been working with extreme urgency to evaluate the full extent of impact to all of the communities that rely on us, including our customers and our internal team members. 

What about [INSERT NAME]? Why aren’t you donating to that charity?

There are a number of worthy organizations doing great work in Ukraine, unfortunately, we cannot support them all. 

What will happen with agencies that have locations listed in Belarus or Russia, but also have locations in other countries on their agency profile?

The agency accounts that will be suspended are those where the agency owner is in Belarus or Russia. Agency owner location determines suspension criteria.

For affected customers who moved to the US, and do not have a US tax number, what options can we provide so they can continue using Upwork?

This will be handled as normal. For compliance purposes, we’re unable to offer guidance regarding work authorization. Encourage them to contact a tax professional.

Can the agency owner from Russia/Belarus request to transfer the agency’s ownership to another user/team member who’s not in Russia or Belarus?

Yes, they are able to follow the standard process for ownership transfer.

Can a company/CL in Russia/Belarus request to transfer to someone not in Russia or Belarus?

If the company itself is a Russia/Belarus company, this won't work. BUT, if the owner of the company is simply located in Russia/Belarus, then yes, they are able to follow the standard process for ownership transfer.

If a FL is located in Russia/Belarus and needs to provide proof to their bank that they no longer have a job (e.g. for credit vacation/extension), what can we provide the FL?

A Certificate of Earnings, the official Upwork Blog on suspending operations in Russia/Belarus, as well as the email received directly should suffice for these purposes. If a customized COE is needed, we can accommodate that request.

If an agency owner is located outside of Russia and Belarus, but engages Russian and Belarusians to complete work, would this violate our Terms of Service? Can a client still work with this agency?

It is not a violation of our TOS to engage with an agency who has workers in Russia or elsewhere, but any of those workers cannot be on our site.  We are not involved in any relationship between an agency and an off-platform worker and of course off-platform workers are not subject to our trust and safety or sanctions screenings. If the agency has workers in Russia, but those workers are not working on the Upwork platform or working on Upwork-related contracts, that's ok as that is outside of Upwork overall. BUT, if the agency has workers in Russia and that worker tries to work on Upwork related tasks, that is breaking TOS. If someone reaches out specifically about agency members or agencies working on platform, see FAQs here. 

If an agency owner is located outside of Russia and Belarus, but engages Russian and Belarusians to complete work, would this arrangement be impacted by sanctions? Can a client still work with this agency?

Currently there is not a complete ban on working with Russian citizens, but there are prohibitions on specified individuals and, as noted, we cannot screen that for agency workers (only talent on the marketplace).  A client would need to address sanctions independently and/or that with the agency owner.

If the agency has workers in Russia, but those workers are not working on the Upwork platform or working on Upwork-related contracts, that's ok as that is outside of Upwork overall. BUT, if the agency has workers in Russia and that worker tries to sign up on Upwork, while this would not currently be impacted by sanctions, this would not be accepted as Upwork made the decision on 3.7.22 to no longer work within Russia/Belarus. If someone reaches out specifically about agency members or agencies working on platform, see FAQs here. 

If a customer reports any claims of finding accounts or has suspicions of accounts based in Russia / Belarus, we want to be sure to report these accounts for review.

If you come across any accounts where you have suspicions that customers may be within Russia / Belarus, we want to be sure these are also reported. 

All cases can go to the IDR team for review where they will likely suspend the customer with a “Project 322” suspension and have them go through the appeal process. Please include detailed internal notes on why you’re specifically sharing this case with IDR.

Appeal Process:

Important: If a customer comes to CS looking to appeal, that is okay and we do not need to refer them to “File an Appeal” button flow. Please follow the process below.

We have TWO kinds of account suspensions that can currently be appealed:

Geographical sanctions: if the customer is in the Donbas region of Ukraine, described in President Biden’s Executive Order as the “so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) regions of Ukraine.”

Russia/Belarus suspensions (aka suspension Project 322): announced March 7, 2022, Upwork is suspending business within Russia and Belarus

For Russia/Belarus (Project 322) suspension, follow this updated process (as of June 17, 2022)

In the cases where a customer attaches documents to their ticket AND one of those documents is their ID, then these can go straight to ID_Doc_Review_TS425 queue with no touch response. Be cautious, though, as if there is NO ID attached, you must instead follow the full steps (as listed below) for "Project 322" or "Policy - Unsupported Country - Lockout", pending your specific case.

(This is the same)

If ONLY a "Project 322" suspension (NOT the "Policy - Unsupported Country - Lockout") and the customer is appealing:

1. When you receive an appeal case, generate the FIVS link and send the "allow appeal" macro we've been using
2. Ensure you also select proper categories of Natural Disasters & Social Unrest > URC 2022
3. Mark the ticket as "solved"

(This is NEW)

If the account DOES have "Policy - Unsupported Country - Lockout" and the customer is appealing:

1. Go to customer-facing-ukraine-russia-crisis channel and submit the "Lockout Appeal Request Form" for your customer (linked here right next to the URC Help form) IMPORTANT - if you answer NO in any part of the form, please exit the form as that means it's not a "Policy - Unsupported Country - Lockout" appeal request.
2. About every 1 business day, we'll handle those requests. Once handled, a message will be shared in the channel when everything is completed >>> that message indicates that any "Lockout Appeal Request Form" submissions are now unlocked
3. At that point, you can review your customer's account in OBO to double check the lockout was removed, then generate the FIVS link and send the "Allow Appeal" macro

Ensure proper categories of Natural Disasters & Social Unrest > URC 2022 are set and mark the ticket as "solved"

If you receive a request from a customer that's looking to disburse their funds, but are locked out, we can handle these requests internally. Be sure to confirm their primary disbursement method on file is still what they are looking to disburse to and then see a TL for manual disbursement. If they need to change their disbursement method on file, be sure to share that with a TL, as well.

This is only for the LOCKOUT cases. If a Project 322 suspension (not the lockout version), the customer is able to log into their account and disburse their funds / update payment methods themselves.

July 14, 2022 UPDATE:

Back on June 1st, we had a mass lockout for about 1M accounts. During that lockout, we had a small handful of customers that did not receive a lockout for various reasons. We're going to begin to action those accounts this week and the details on these are below:

UPM/Tax country changes (82 impacted) - 117 customers were emailed in the beginning of June to update their UPMs/Tax Info by mid-June. This request was due to the fact their UPMs/Tax Info was associated with Russia/Belarus. For the remaining cust. that have not yet updated, they will receive soft suspensions today as well as an email explaining this. All these accounts will have a CSS Note stating that once the cust. updates UPM/Tax Info, you can seek TL approval and have the suspension(s) removed. Those with only a UPM flag will only have the AE suspended. Those with only a Tax Info flag will have their full account suspended. Those with both will have both AE & account suspensions.

'Own Companies' country (308 impacted) as well as VPN/Proxy aka masking IP address (430 impacted) - 857 customers were emailed (340 for ‘Own Companies’ & 517 for ‘VPN/Proxy’) were  emailed in the beginning of June that they have until mid-June to wind down their contracts before their accounts are impacted, or they can appeal (they received a ‘Project 322’ suspension the same day). For the remaining cust. that are still suspended and have not had a successful appeal, they will receive lockouts today as well as an email explaining this. All these accounts will have a CSS Note stating the lockout was added and they can appeal, if no longer in those regions. If they qualify for an appeal, please follow our appeal process here (the section right above this July 14, 2022 update or search “For Russia/Belarus (Project 322)” within this same drop-down.

For all locked out accounts from July 13th with opened contracts - contracts will be closed out and any FP escrowed funds will go back to the CL. Any cust. that had payment within the last 90 days on the contract, if the “other party” (e.g. FL not in Russia/Belarus, but CL is), they will receive an email explaining their contract was closed. Note - These cust. were also notified in early June with a recommendation to wind down contracts by mid-June.

We also have about 3,484 contracts still open today associated with locked out accounts that will be closing - Note: these contracts, while open, are associated with accounts that have been locked out since June 1st, so we don't expect a large impact to volume when they close.

Please ping the Slack channel: customer-facing-ukraine-russia-crisis if you need anything in relation to these contacts. 

Geographical sanction suspensions, follow this process:

Please be mindful to not manually update the customer’s country within OBO.

When we receive an appeals case:

1. Double check the addresses on the customer’s account within OBO; both the Identity address and the Own Companies address. This is important because if the addresses are not updated to where the customer is newly located, their appeal will likely be denied. By proactively checking this, we’re able to set them up for success before going through the appeals process.
   • If a customer has multiple profiles in their Upwork account (FL and CL), double check all addresses are updated. When verifying within OBO, the FL address shows under the Identity section and the CL address shows under Own Companies. If it’s noticed there’s still an old address, walk the customer through updating the address before going to step 2.
   • If a CL only, someone without a FL profile, it will be noticed that their address only updates under Own Companies and the Identity country will likely still show the old country before the address change. This is okay! IDR was informed (as of 3.18.2022) to utilize the Own Companies country and ignore the Identity country in these cases. Important - if a CL simply adds a different address to act as though their company is no longer in Russia/Belarus, IDR will find that when the customer submits their company docs and their appeal will be rejected.
2. CS agent should generate a FIVS link and provide it to the customer using the macro titled “Location/ID Verification::Suspension::appeal allowed”, but before sending the response, verify if an escalated case first
   • This macro is set to “solve”, but in a case where a customer responds with docs directly in the ticket AS LONG AS ID IS INCLUDED, please add internal notes and send to the IDR queue for review directly. If there is NO ID - please refer them back to the FIVS link to submit. (This also applies if they come straight to us with the docs)
   • Also, if a cust. submits ID in the ticket, there is no need to worry about redactions as IDR is taking care of these for the appeal cases
3. Review the case for potential escalation looking out for the following:
   • Account is an internal test account
   • They are an Enterprise Client
   • They are a Pro Client
   • The Client is high value with a spend of $100k+ in last 12 months
   • The freelancer is Expert Vetted Talent
   • The freelancer has earnings of $25k+ in last 12 months
   • Expedited handling requested by Account Manager or Engagement Manager (Premium may mainly see these)
   • Escalation received to EE (for EE Team)
4. Based on the results of #2 above:
   • If an escalated case - Please edit the macro response to ask the customer to respond back once they’ve submitted their info to the link letting them know we can escalate this to be reviewed within 24 hours. After they respond that is completed, fill in the Request for Prioritized Review of Location-Based Appeal form. If this request is specific for an internal test account, fill in the Request for Prioritized Review of Suspended QA/ Test Account form. These forms will have the request completed within 24 hours.
   • If NOT an escalated case - no other actions are needed aside from sending the macro response and they’ll hear back in 1 week

With the FIVS link, when a customer claims they're not in an affected region, they'll be asked to provide any of the following documents:

• Bank or Credit Card Statement
• Utility Bills (electric, water, refuse, telephone land/cell, cable, or gas)
• Current Insurance Policy
• Insurance Billing Statement (Medical, Auto or Home)
• Current Vehicle Registration Card
• Current Property Tax Bill

Based on the above info, our IDR team is accepting other forms of identification in certain cases, so whatever they can provide, even if they don’t have the above, they can attach it and it will be reviewed.Customers are instructed to allow 1 week for review (24 hours if approved for escalation as advised above). Should they contact CS for an update after this timeframe, tickets may be escalated to the IDR queue.

For cases in Russia/Belarus where a CL received the suspension email but DOES NOT have a suspension, follow this process:

When we receive an appeals case and/or CL states they aren’t in that location, CS agent to simply send customer macro titled “Location/ID Verification::Suspension::appeal allowed but not needed” - no FIVS link is needed or any other action from there.

CS Background info (internal only) - We are sending these emails, but not actually suspending, as these CLs likely have a contract on Upwork right now. If we suspend, they won’t be able to continue working/paying their FLs and we don’t want to hinder any payments. The email is an attempt to have them close out any contracts as by May 1, 2022, they’ll no longer be able to use Upwork. Until then, we don’t want to formally suspend.

For cases in Russia/Belarus where a FL is stating they were incorrectly suspended as they are not located in those areas:

The FL still needs to follow the appeals process, but if you receive pushback or concern as to why they were suspended, you can use this to help respond back:

We understand how important it is to get your account back up and running as quickly as possible. Our teams are working around the clock to help handle cases and while we cannot share our specific checks and balances with you at this time, we're happy to review your account for resumption. I know this is frustrating and I certainly understand the concern. By submitting your information in the link provided, this will trigger an automatic review process. Our current timeline is you'll be updated within 1 week. We appreciate any patience during these trying times and we'll be with you as soon as possible.

CS Background info (internal only) - There is a lot more that is going into these types of suspensions, more than just UPMs and IP addresses. While we can’t share out the specifics to our customer, we are reviewing any reported cases and finding that most have been correctly suspended due to various reasons. If at any time you are thinking that something is incorrectly suspended, you can link your case to this PT here for reporting purposes only. At this time, they will still need to go through the appeals process, though.

Donate to Ukraine freelancers via Project Catalog Program (Internal: Hire No Hire)

To help those in Ukraine, clients can purchase a catalog project from freelancers as a donation, without asking for deliverables or work. We are also waiving the freelancer service fees and VAT, as well (Special Projects will handle this part).

For all interactions in regards to the Catalog donations, please still use the URC category, but also add in this Tag Only macro: Donate to Ukraine freelancers

• CL-facing Help article
• FL-facing Help article
• Ukraine Catalog page
• Project Catalog page
• About Project Catalog

On Mar 11, 2022, Upwork launched a reduction in the hold on FL funds from 10 days to 5 days for talent in Ukraine. It was earlier only limited to Top Rated FLs, working on hourly contracts and Enterprise customers where CL payment was successful with no disputes. 

Current Payout Schedule

Below is the current payout timeline on hourly contracts:

• Week 1: FL works and logs time
• Week 2: Time is invoiced to the client on Monday and they have until Friday to review the work
• Week 3: Earnings become available on Tuesday 11:59pm UTC.

After billing week is over, FL waits 10 days to receive funds.

New Payout Schedule for Ukrainian Talent

Initial launch will reduce hold on FL & Agencies funds for hourly contracts by 5 days:

• Funds will become available on Friday morning UTC (job starts at 00:01 and runs for 4/5 hrs) of Week 2, instead of Tuesday 23:59 UTC of Week 3. 
• The CL dispute deadline will remain unchanged (Friday 23:59 UTC).

See timeline below.

Impact on Disbursements

There will be no changes to the manual or automated disbursement processes/schedules:

• FLs can withdraw funds manually anytime
• FLs can choose to be on existing automated schedules: Wednesdays (weekly, biweekly, monthly), Mondays (quarterly)

If FLs want to withdraw the balance that becomes available early, they have to use MANUAL disbursements, since automated disbursements do not happen on Fridays.

Help Center article - to be published soon

Loom video (user experience)

Overview:

Today, Mar 16th 2022, Upwork is launching a site to determine freelancer current working availability in response to the Russia/Ukraine crisis. If the FL’s availability is disrupted, and the FL opts in to client notifications, we will notify impacted clients and make them unavailable for new projects. FL will be able to access the site from an email and a notification through internal messaging only at this point. 

Tentative customer experience:

1. Emails and DASH will go to  those impacted in Ukraine. They will be sent to a special page we’ve created here: https://www.upwork.com/services/crisis/1645671600000/status

2. They can check "yes" or "no" to confirm if they are impacted and, if so, we’ll ask: “are you expecting to be unavailable?” If so, we’ll ask “would you like us to contact your CLs?”

3. We’ll also share a sample message of the message that will be sent to the client.

Target audience:

FLs based in Ukraine, in active contracts, not Enterprise or sales-managed marketplace clients. If FL indicates their work has been affected, Upwork can reach out to their clients on their behalf if selected.

Launch Plan - check in email send 

Screenshots

No impact

It will take longer than necessary

I can't work right now

I prefer not to answer

Help Center article: JSS changes for freelancers in Ukraine

On Mar 20, 2022, Upwork launched a programmatic lock on JSS for talent in Ukraine. For all scheduled updates, JSS displayed to talent can increase or stay neutral for eligible talent in Ukraine but will not decrease. 

Whatever maximum JSS of a freelancer is between all bi-weeekly updates from 2/20 to 3/20, on 3/20, that will be the freelancer’s new JSS and it'll be "frozen" unless with any **updates after that their JSS gets higher, then it will raise with the next update.

**Update clarification: If in future JSS bi-weekly updates, if the freelancer has ended contracts that will increase their score, it will be increased. If they have any that would drop their score, it won't drop.

Target audience: FL/Agency Owner have their country profile location set in Ukraine from Oct 1 2021 through 2/28/2022 and they have at least $1 in earnings prior to February 28, 2022

Goal of the feature: Support talent in Ukraine to preserve their reputation on Upwork

Launch Plan:

• Sunday 3/20: first time any change will be visible to FLs via their profile/ My stats page
• Week of 3/14 (TBC): Marketing launch for feature bundle.