Claims must be filed through the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, and certain conditions must be met during each week for which benefits are payable. To be eligible, you must be:

• unemployed,
• physically and mentally able to perform suitable work,
• available for suitable work,
• making a reasonable effort to find work,
• free of participation or direct interest in a labor dispute, and
• free of disqualification.

WAITING WEEK In addition to the above, a waiting period of one (1) week must be served before benefits are payable to you. A week to be used as a valid waiting period must be a valid week of unemployment. A valid week of unemployment must be a week you have claimed after filing your Initial Claim, in which you did not have any earnings or had earnings of less than 140% of your Weekly Benefit Amount, met all Eligibility Requirements, and a week for which you are not disqualified.

ABLE TO WORK means being physically and mentally able to perform work similar to work you performed in the past or other work for which you are fitted by experience and training to perform and have a reasonable expectancy of obtaining.

AVAILABILITY FOR WORK means being ready to accept work at once, and there are no circumstances, personal or otherwise, which would prevent you from accepting suitable work.

REASONABLE EFFORT TO FIND WORK means making personal efforts to secure suitable work by contacting persons with hiring authority, union local, etc., or doing those things reasonable for you to do in regard to your occupation, which would result in your finding employment as soon as possible.

After a reasonable amount of time, you must expand your efforts and seek work in related fields which utilize a lesser skill.

DUA is a federally funded program that provides financial assistance and employment services to jobless workers and the self-employed when they are unemployed as a direct result of a significant natural disaster if DUA benefits are made available. Click here to learn more about DUA.

• The PUA program expired on September 6, 2021, and the last payable week for PUA benefits in Arkansas was the week ending June 26, 2021.
• The Arkansas PUA Portal is permanently closed to claimants. (PUA claims filed before expiration have been archived for reference by ADWS.)
• If, in addition to working in Arkansas, you worked in another state and that state continued to offer PUA after June 26, 2021, you may qualify for a second PUA claim in that state. Read more here: https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/pua_claims_limited_circumstances.pdf.
• PUA claimants with pending appeal decisions may still be paid retroactively for weeks before June 30, 2021, if later deemed eligible. For PUA appeal decision questions, please email PUA.General@arkansas.gov.
• The expiration of the PUA Program has no impact on the state’s regular unemployment program. Claimants still receiving their weeks of regular unemployment benefits should continue to certify as normal. 

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 that provides temporary income to eligible individuals who became unemployed as a result of the novel COVID-19 pandemic and are either self-employed, do not have sufficient work history to be eligible for a claim, or have exhausted other forms of unemployment insurance benefits. It is funded by the federal government, not by state unemployment taxes paid by employers.  

TAA benefits are for those workers who lose their jobs or whose hours of work and wages are reduced due to increased imports. This program includes a variety of benefits and reemployment services to help unemployed workers prepare for and obtain suitable employment. Workers may receive assistance in skill assessment, job search workshops, job development/referral, and job placement. In addition, workers may be eligible for training, a job search allowance, a relocation allowance, and other reemployment services.

This specific form of Trade Adjustment Assistance is paid to an eligible adversely affected worker every week after he/she exhausts entitlement to regular unemployment compensation, including state and federal extensions. Click here to learn more.

The Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to help certain Unemployment Insurance claimants return to work faster. If you are claiming unemployment benefits, you could be selected to participate in the RESEA program. Participants are obligated to meet various program requirements. Learn more here.

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