Release Date: July 6, 2011
Release Number: 1994-016
From; FEMA.gov
WESTFIELD, Mass. — Residents of Hampden and Worcester Counties who could not work because of the severe storms and tornadoes June 1 may qualify for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA). This program helps people who would not qualify for standard unemployment compensation programs.
To be eligible, disaster survivors need to live, work or own a business in Hampden or Worcester Counties, which have been designated for Individual Assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).
Disaster Unemployment Assistance is a federally-funded program administered through Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to help workers whose primary income was lost or interrupted as a direct result of the disaster.
Unemployment payments up to 26 weeks are available for workers who temporarily lost jobs because of the storms and tornadoes and who do not normally qualify for unemployment insurance benefits, such as farmers and self-employed individuals.
The filing deadline is July 18.
Survivors can apply if they fall into one or more of the following categories:
- They became unemployed as a direct result of the storms and tornadoes.
- They cannot reach their place of employment because of disaster-related travel disruptions.
- They must support a household because the head of the household died in the storms.
- They are unable to work because of a disaster-related injury.
- They could not work because their place of employment was damaged or destroyed by the storms.
- They were scheduled to start work and the job no longer exists.
Applicants will be required to submit wage information and documentation regarding the basis of their claim.
For more information, contact the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, 1-877-626-6800 or 1-617-626-6800 or visit www.mass.gov/dua/disasterui.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
