Special Disaster Unemployment Benefits
Release Date: April 18, 2006
Release Number: 1634-022
» More Information on Tennessee Severe Storms and Tornadoes
JACKSON, Tenn. -- Tennesseans who are out of work as a result of the recent tornadoes may be eligible for special unemployment compensation, officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said today.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) provides unemployment insurance benefits and re-employment services to those individuals who cannot work because of the tornadoes that swept the state earlier this month and who are ineligible to receive regular unemployment benefits from the state.
These are people who need help quickly to assist in their recovery, said Michael Karl, the FEMA official in charge of the federal operation in the state. It is also an economic boost for the communities where they had been employed.
When President Bush declared portions of Tennessee a federal disaster area, his declaration authorized FEMA and the U.S. Department of Labor to provide funding for the DUA program which is administered by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. These special benefits now are available to those who were self-employed, day laborers, farmers and farm workers, artists and craftsmen and others who would not normally receive state unemployment insurance and cannot work because of the recent storms.
Qualified applicants include those who were injured or disabled, whose places of work were damaged or destroyed or who have been unable to get to their workplaces because of the storms.
Applicants may apply for these special benefits at any office of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The department also accepts applications by phone at 1-800-813-0950 and on the Internet at www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/esdiv.html .
Last Modified: Wednesday, 19-Apr-2006 09:44:48