ALASKA – DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AVAILABLE
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is available to individuals who were affected by severe storms, landslides, and mudslides that occurred on November 20, 2023 in Alaska. Residents within the City and Borough of Wrangell may be eligible for DUA benefits beginning the week of December 2, 2023.
Individuals must first apply for regular benefits by calling (888) 252-2557 or (907) 269-4700. Applications must be submitted by May 9, 2024.
As a reminder, DUA is an unemployment insurance benefit made available after a disaster and is only available to individuals who:
- Have applied for and used all regular unemployment benefits from any state, or do not qualify for unemployment benefits.
- Worked or were self-employed or scheduled to begin work or self-employment in the disaster area.
- Can no longer work or perform services because of physical damage or destruction to the place of employment as a direct result of the disaster.
- Establish that the work or self-employment they can no longer perform was their primary source of income.
- Cannot perform work or self-employment because of an injury as a direct result of the disaster.
- Became the breadwinner or major support of a household because of the death of the head of household.
MASSACHUSETTS – WAGE RECORD FILING CHANGE
Effective April 23, 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) will no longer reject filings due to an unavailable Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). If an employer does not have an SSN or ITIN for an employee when filing quarterly wage reports, the wages should be reported for these employees with all zeros in the SSN field. The Massachusetts DUA will process the record and assign a temporary ID in lieu of a valid SSN or ITIN. Massachusetts DUA will continue to reject wage filings that use invalid SSNs such as 123456789 or 111111111.
Once the SSN is obtained for an employee, the filings must be amended manually through Unemployment Services for Employers. A quarterly notification will be issued to employers to remind them of the temporary SSN that needs to be updated. Any questions can be directed to DUA Employer Reports at [email protected].
