Human Resource Blog

Disaster Unemployment Assistance in Iowa

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What should employers in Iowa know about the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program?

Employers in Iowa should know that their employees may be protected by the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program if the employees are out of work as a direct result of a disaster. The DUA program is a federal program that comes into place when an employee has lost work because of a disaster, such as a flood, storm or fire. The employee may receive up to 29 months of financial assistance from the federal government in such as a situation.

Not all employees will receive financial assistance, just as not all disaster will qualify for financial assistance. In order for a disaster to qualify for assistance, the disaster should be declared a federal disaster by the President of the United States. Then, federal funds may be allocated for employees that are out of work because of the disaster.

Employees need to meet at least some of the following criteria in order to qualify for coverage:

·         The employee cannot be receiving unemployment insurance benefits in any state across the country in order to receive DUA benefits.

·         The employee should be employed at the time of the disaster. If the employee is not employed, then the employee should have a contract that would have begun during the time when the disaster struck.

·         Employees should be out of work as a direct result of the disaster. For example, an employee should have been injured in the disaster and unable to work. Alternatively, the employee could have lost his or her place of work in the disaster.

·         If the individual became the head of the household as a direct result of the disaster, the individual may qualify to receive DUA coverage as well. However, the individual should have become the head of the household due to the death of the previous head of the household in the disaster. CB