For Immediate Release: June 4, 2024
Contact: Zoe Calkins, zoe.calkins@arkansas.gov
DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO INDIVIDUALS AFFECTED BY SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (June 4, 2024) – Arkansas’ Secretary of Commerce, Hugh McDonald has announced that as a result of Presidential Disaster Declaration FEMA-4788-DR, the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services (ADWS) is accepting applications for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) from individuals in Benton, Boone, and Marion counties whose employment or self-employment was lost or interrupted due to the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that occurred on May 24-27, 2024. Applications for DUA must be filed by July 29, 2024.
DUA is available to individuals who:
- Worked or were self-employed, or were scheduled to begin work or self-employment;
- Can no longer work or perform services because of physical damage or destruction to the place of
employment as a direct result of a disaster, which can also include the physical inaccessibility of
the place of employment due to its closure by the federal, state, or local government in immediate
response to the disaster; - Establish that the work or self-employment they can no longer perform was their primary source
of income; - Do not qualify for regular unemployment insurance benefits from any state;
- Cannot work or resume self-employment because of an injury as a direct result of the disaster;
or - Became the breadwinner or major support of a household because of the death of the head of the
household.
Applications filed after July 29, 2024, will be considered untimely, unless the individual provides
good cause for filing after the deadline.
To file for DUA, individuals should first go online at https://www.ezarc.adws.arkansas.gov and file
their regular UI. Select “Laid off – Weather” as the reason for separation. After completing the UI
application, individuals will receive an email link to complete and submit the DUA application or
be mailed an application to complete and return.
Paper applications for regular UI will also be available at the mobile Workforce Centers. Find more
information, including Workforce Center and mobile Workforce Center locations, visit
https://bit.ly/ArkansasDUA. Follow the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services on Facebook and
Twitter for more updates.
