[dmccauley]

I thought I would share some helpful info I just came across.

Tallahassee, FL – Pursuant to Governor Charlie Crist’s requests for federal individual assistance, the Agency for Workforce Innovation has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) to receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) to help the people of Florida’s Panhandle area recover from recent severe storms and flooding.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance helps people who have become unemployed as a direct result of a declared disaster and who do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits. Effective immediately, the federal government has approved DUA for people in 12 North Florida counties who were affected by these storms. Those counties currently include: Calhoun, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Walton and Washington. Funding may be requested for additional counties as further damage assessments are made.
“We are committed to ensuring that the people affected by the recent flooding in the Florida Panhandle receive the aid necessary to recover,” said Cynthia R. Lorenzo, Interim Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation. “Disaster Unemployment Assistance provides financial support to citizens in 12 counties whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted by these storms.”
Many workers will be eligible for the state’s regular unemployment compensation program; those who are not may be eligible for DUA. The DUA program also covers self-employed individuals, owners and workers of farms and ranches, as well as fishers and others who are not normally covered by state unemployment compensation.

WHO CAN APPLY


Individuals who:

• Have exhausted entitlement to state unemployment compensation; and
• Have been working or residing in a county for which the disaster has been officially declared; and either:
• Become unemployed as a direct result of a declared disaster; or
• Are unable to reach their place of employment as a direct result of the disaster; or
• Were scheduled to begin work and do not have a job or are unable to reach the job as a direct result of the disaster; or
• Have become the major support for a household because the head of the household has died as a direct result of the disaster; or
• Cannot work because of an injury caused directly by the disaster.

here is the link

Agency for Workforce Innovation - Press Releases - 12 North Florida Counties Approved for Disaster Unemployment Assistance