Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is available for persons, including self-employed individuals, who were living or working in the affected counties at the time of the disaster, and who are unemployed as a direct result of the damages caused by the storm.
Most impacted workers may already qualify for regular Unemployment Insurance. The federal DUA is a special program that covers many people who otherwise may not be eligible for regular Unemployment Insurance.
At this time, the DUA is available only in connection with the ten (10) NJ counties, including Atlantic County, now declared a federal a disaster area. Additional counties may be added to the disaster declaration following continued damage assessments by local officials, representatives of the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
If you are unemployed because of the disaster that began on Oct. 28, you should first file for unemployment insurance benefits through the Internet by going to www.njuifile.net.
A 30-day deadline ending December 3, 2012 is in effect for filing DUA claims resulting from Hurricane Sandy.
