About DUA: 

Disaster Unemployment Assistance is a federally funded benefit program that assists individuals who become unemployed because of a disaster. This program works as follows:

• The Governor must request assistance.
• The President of the United States approves assistance.
• A signed agreement must be in effect prior to any action being taken.
• After a disaster is declared, an official announcement regarding the availability of Disaster Unemployment Assistance funds must be made by the state employment security agency.
• All eligible individuals have 30 days from the announcement date to file a claim for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. If the date of separation is later than the announcement date, state law will apply.
• The disaster period is the 26-week period beginning with the first week following the date the major disaster began and ending with the 26th week subsequent to the date the major disaster was declared.
• Depending on the date of the declaration, it is possible for individuals to receive more than 26 weeks of benefits.
• An individual must exhaust all entitlement to regular reemployment benefits prior to being eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. An individual who is disqualified from receiving regular reemployment benefits may be entitled to Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
• The Disaster Unemployment Assistance entitlement will be calculated with a base period of the most recent tax year that ended prior to the individual’s unemployment that was the direct result of a disaster.
• For any week that the individual’s earnings are in excess of the calculated weekly benefit amount, the individual receives no payment for the week.
• If the individual has received their monetary determination letter and they have additional wage information (For example, pay stubs, 1099 statements, or bank records of accounts) that they believe would change the determination, they may file for a redetermination in the RA Help Center.
• Appeals Information:
  • The claimant will have 60 days to appeal a determination or redetermination.
  • All Disaster Unemployment Assistance appeals will be decided within 30 days of receipt.
  • The claimant will have 15 days to appeal the referee’s decision to the Regional Administrator.
  • The Regional Administrator will have 45 days to obtain the records and issue a decision.
  • The decision by the Regional Administrator must be issued within 90 days after the day on which the claimant’s original decision was received by the state agency.
• Aliens may receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits if they meet the “able and available” criteria by state law, Aliens must be “able and available” for work and authorized by Immigration and Naturalization Service to work in the United States.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance is available to those who:

• Worked or were self-employed or were scheduled to begin work or self-employment;
• Are not able to work or perform services because of physical damage of destruction to the place of employment as a direct result of the disaster;
• Can establish that the work or self-employment they can no longer perform was their principal source of income; 
• Do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits from any state;
• Cannot perform work or self-employment because of an injury as a direct result of the disaster; or
• Became the breadwinner or major supporter of a household because the former breadwinner’s death occurred as a result of the major disaster.

What you need to file:

You must provide the following information to complete your application:

• Social Security number.
• Alien registration number and expiration date (if applicable).
• Name and address of your last employer.
• If you worked in another state during the past two years, have the name and address of the out-of-state employer.
• If self-employed and have proof of self-employment for the past two years. (For example, 1099 statements, state or federal tax returns, bank records of accounts, statement from a bank showing your business account, or a copy of title or deed to a business property.)
• If you were scheduled to work but could not work due to the disaster, you must have the name and address of the employer and date you were scheduled to work.

To receive DUA benefits, all required documentation must be submitted within 21 days from the date the DUA application is filed.

Resources: 

• How To File For DUA
  
• Claimant DUA FAQs
• Employer DUA FAQs
  
• Applying for DUA

Providing proof of employment:

FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO DID NOT QUALIFY FOR OR EXHAUSTED REGULAR RA BENEFITS and additionally filed a DUA application:

If you have applied for Disaster Unemployment Assistance, you will need to provide proof that you were employed prior to the DUA qualifying event. This is called "proof of employment". It is recommended that you have your documents available as you will be contacted by the Department to provide the proof of employment.

Documents to provide as proof of employment include:

FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH A MONETARY DETERMINATION who are providing missing wage information for a DUA CLAIM / APPLICATION:

Once you have applied for Disaster Unemployment Assistance, you will receive a Monetary Determination letter in your Reconnect inbox. A copy will also be mailed to you if you selected mail as your primary communication preference. If you believe the amount of benefits listed is incorrect because there is missing wage information, then you will need to submit a Monetary Reconsideration request, see steps below, to have your information reviewed again. You will also need to provide proof of the wages earned while employed prior to the DUA qualifying event. This is called "proof of earnings".

Documents to provide as proof of earnings are:

• W2's (within the years and quarters in the claim base period)
• Pay stubs (must show federal taxes and be within the year and quarters in the claim base period)
• 1099's (within the years and quarters in the claim base period)

To file for Monetary Reconsideration and submit your proof of earnings, go to the RA Help Center and follow the steps below:

1. Select "I am a Claimant"
2. Select "Monetary Determination"
3. Select "I would like to contest my monetary determination"
4. Select "Next" to be taken to the RA Portal
5. Sign-in with the same credentials you use to sign into your Reemployment Assistance account
6. Click "I would like to contest my monetary determination" on the RA Portal homepage