UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Disaster Unemployment Assistance

If you have been working or residing in one of the officially declared disaster counties and are now unemployed as a result of the disaster, you may be eligible for Unemployment Compensation Benefits or Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

Apply by phone at: 1-800-204-2418

When you are applying for disaster unemployment assistance you will need to have the following information available:

• Social Security number
• Alien registration number and expiration date (if applicable)
• Name and address of your last employer
• If you worked in another state during the past two years, have the name and address of the out-state-employer.
• If self-employed have proof of self-employment for the past two years. (W-2’s, State or Federal tax returns, bank records of accounts, statement from a bank showing business account, or a copy of title or deed to a business property.)
• If you were scheduled to work but could not work due to the disaster, have name and address of employer and date scheduled to work.

DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Disaster Unemployment Assistance is a federally funded unemployment benefit program which provides assistance to individuals who become unemployed a result of a disaster. It works as follows:

• Assistance must be requested by the Governor
• Assistance is approved by the President
• A signed agreement must be in effect prior to any action being taken
• After a disaster is declared, an official announcement regarding the availability of Disaster Unemployment Assistance funds must be made by the state employment security agency
• All eligible individuals have 30 days from the announcement date to file a claim for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. I f the date of separation is later than the announcement date, state law will apply.
• The disaster period is the 26 week period beginning with the first week following the date the major disaster began and ending with the 26th week subsequent to the date the major disaster was declared.
• Depending on the date of the declaration, it is possible for individuals to receive more than 26 weeks of benefits
• An individual must exhaust all entitlement (Unemployment Compensation, EUC) prior to being eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. A claimant who is disqualified from receiving regular unemployment may be entitled to Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
• The Disaster Unemployment Assistance entitlement will be calculated with a base period of the most recent tax year that ended prior to the individual’s unemployment that was the direct result of a disaster
• For any week that the claimant’s earnings are in excess of the calculated weekly benefit amount, the individual receives no payment for the week
• Appeals
  • The claimant shall have 60 days to appeal a determination or redetermination
  • All Disaster Unemployment Assistance appeals will be decided within 30 days of receipt
  • The claimant will have 15 days to appeal the referee’s decision to the Regional Administrator
  • The Regional Administrator will have 45 days to obtain the records and issue a decision
  • The decision by the Regional Administrator must be issued within 90 days after the day on which the claimant’s original decision was received by the state agency
• Aliens may receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits if they meet the able and available criteria, within the meaning of the state law: i.e., they must be able and available for work and authorized by INS to work in this country.