Human Resource Blog

DUA Support Requirements

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We have learned that there is something called Disaster Unemployment Assistance. What is that and how do I know if I am eligible? I work for a small design firm in Virginia that was flooded out in a storm earlier this year.

The Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is a federal program that is in place to provide financial assistance to people who have lost their regular employment or who have not be able to work as a self-employed individual any longer because of a major disaster, such as severe flooding, a major fire, or a similar situation. You may be covered under DUA if your workplace was flooded out and if the loss of employment was a direct result of the flood. However, in order to qualify, the President of the U.S. needs to declare that your area is actually a disaster area.

When you apply to receive DUA, it is important that you meet some specific criteria in order to qualify. For example, you must not be eligible to receive regular unemployment insurance benefits under the state or federal laws. Here are some other eligibility requirements that you must meet:

1. The DUA is only available to those workers that are unemployed U.S. nationals or that are qualified aliens who had been working or who had been self employed before the disaster.
2. The impacted individuals need to have either been working or have been scheduled to work in the area that has been declared as a federal disaster area. (You will need to prove that you were working or were scheduled to work there.)
3. You must also be able to prove that you are no longer able to work because of physical damage or destruction to your place of employment. This damage needs to have been a direct result of a disaster.
4. You also need to prove that the work that you had been scheduled to perform was your primary source of income.
5. You should not also qualify for unemployment benefits. You cannot receive DUA if you are already receiving unemployment benefits, either from your own state or from another state.
6. If you had been self-employed, you need to prove that you are no longer able to perform your job because of an injury that you incurred as a direct result of the disaster.
7. You may also receive DUA support if you have become the breadwinner as a result of the sudden death of the head of your household.  CB