Rita Unemployment Benefits and Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Please be aware that most of the information below
is now obsolete, because much time has passed since Hurricane Rita struck.
The last significant update to this page was on 10/7/05.
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Beware of Rita Unemployment Scams! Filing unemployment
claims is always free through state unemployment offices and
Career One Stop Centers. But con artists have been charging hurricane-unemployed
victims to file claims. Don't fall for it! Instead, file for free through
one of the state unemployment offices or Career One Stop Centers listed
below. Contact the state
Attorney General to report unemployment scams.
Rita Unemployment Offices
If you became unemployed because of Hurricane Rita, your state's department
of labor (unemployment office) is where you'd file a claim for standard
unemployment benefits or Hurricane Rita Disaster
Unemployment Assistance.
You may file for standard unemployment benefits or Rita Disaster Unemployment
Assistance online, by phone or in person, depending on the facilities available.
Rita Disaster Unemployment Assistance is not likely
to be available in Florida, because President Bush has not declared it
as a disaster area. It's listed below anyway, for filing standard unemployment
claims after Rita.
For claim information, click a state link or call a phone number listed
below. Be sure to call a local branch unemployment office before visiting,
as it's possible that some will be closed for awhile after Rita. See also Rita
Career One Stop Centers.
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Rita Career One Stop Centers
Career One Stop Centers are distributed throughout each state as local
branch offices of state unemployment offices. States might call them by
names other than Career One Stop Centers (as noted in the links below).
Regardless, they're all part of the National
Career One Stop System. Among the services they offer, some take claims
for unemployment benefits or Disaster Unemployment Assistance, while some
do not.
Below is a list of links to help you locate the nearest open Career One
Stop Center that is taking claims for standard unemployment benefits or
Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Click a state link below or call the
central locator number at 877-US-2JOBS (877-872-5627). For TTY, dial 877-889-5627.
Be sure to call a local center before visiting, as it's possible that
some will be closed for awhile after Rita. For local center contact information,
click a link below or call the central locator number listed above.
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About Rita Disaster Unemployment Assistance
The Disaster Unemployment Assistance Program (DUA)
provides unemployment benefits to eligible individuals who become unemployed
or can't work because of injury, as a direct result of major disasters
declared by the President of the United States.
President Bush declared Louisiana and Texas as Hurricane Rita disaster
areas on 9/24/2005. Consequently, Rita Disaster Unemployment Assistance
is available in those states. Rita Disaster Unemployment
Assistance is not likely to be available in Florida, because President
Bush did not declare the state as a Rita disaster area. At this writing, Katrina
Disaster Unemployment Assistance is available in Florida, as it is
in Louisiana and other Katrina-affected states.
Individuals who became the breadwinners or major support contributors
in their households, because the heads of the households died as a direct
result of Hurricane Rita, might also be eligible for Hurricane Rita Disaster
Unemployment Assistance.
Self-employed individuals who lost self-employment income because of Hurricane
Rita, are not likely to be eligible for standard unemployment benefits
based solely on self-employment. (Self-employed individuals might be eligible
standard unemployment benefits, if they also worked on the side as employees
prior to Hurricane Rita.) However, self-employed victims might be eligible
for Rita Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
Because Disaster Unemployment Assistance is separate from standard, state
unemployment benefits programs, eligibility requirements differ. Among
other requirements, you must have exhausted or otherwise be ineligible
for standard unemployment benefits to receive Rita Disaster Unemployment
Assistance.
To fully determine your eligibility for either standard unemployment benefits
or Rita Disaster Unemployment Assistance, you'll likely have to file an
official unemployment claim verses just asking. Your state's unemployment
office (or Career One Stop Center) might not clearly distinguish between
filing for standard unemployment benefits or Rita Disaster Unemployment
Assistance. If so, your state's unemployment office will determine which
you might receive, based on the information you provide when filing your
unemployment claim.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance is administered by state
unemployment offices as agents of the Federal government. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issues the funds in partnership with
the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL),
the "main" unemployment office, so to speak. But FEMA offers more to
disaster victims than just Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
See FEMA's
Press Room for Hurricane Rita disaster assistance updates.
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Rita Legal Advice
The word is that attorneys in Louisiana and Texas are volunteering to
provide legal advice to low-income individuals adversely affected by Hurricane
Rita. After such a disaster, legal matters include those about unemployment
claims, insurance claims, home repair contracts, consumer protection matters,
landlord-tenant concerns, mortgage foreclosure and debt collection problems.
You might find such an attorney through a free
attorney referral service or through one of the legal aid organizations
linked below.
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