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The Tennessee Department of Labor encourages those whose job was impacted by recent flooding from Hurricane Helene to apply for benefits through the state’s unemployment program regardless of whether the federal government has approved Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

To apply online, go to www.tn.gov/workforce.html and click on the information banner that encourages displaced workers to apply for those benefits. When applying, choose “Lack of Work” as the cause of unemployment, and then choose “Disaster related closure.”

Once an application is made, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development will first determine if a displaced worker is eligible for state unemployment, and if they are, they will receive benefits from the state program.

If an individual is not eligible for state unemployment, and DUA is eventually approved for an individual’s county, they must go back to jobs4TN and apply for DUA at that time. Even if a person is receiving state unemployment, they must go back and apply for DUA so they are eligible for the additional weeks of benefits the federal government provides.

DUA is a federal unemployment program administered by the state of Tennessee. DUA provides temporary benefits to individuals whose employment or self-employment has been lost or interrupted as a direct result of a major disaster and who are not eligible for regular unemployment insurance. Direct result means loss of employment or self-employment because of the major disaster itself and not the result of a longer chain of events caused or worsened by the disaster.

The state of Tennessee will first determine if individuals are eligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits before finding them eligible for DUA. If individuals are eligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits they will receive those benefits instead of DUA.

The weekly DUA benefit in Tennessee ranges from $131 to $325. Once the federal government approves DUA funding, the state will pay benefits starting from the first Sunday after the presidential disaster declaration. DUA benefits last for 27 weeks. If you receive state benefits first, you will receive 12 weeks of state unemployment, and if eligible, an additional 15 weeks of DUA, which is why the state Department of Labor says it is critical to apply for both programs.