BATON ROUGE – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Tuesday that the deadline to apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA), which is available to certain workers who lost income as a direct result of Hurricane Laura, has been extended to Oct. 30.

The purpose of DUA is to help workers whose primary incomes are lost or interrupted by a federally declared disaster. It differs from regular state unemployment insurance because it also provides benefits to people who are self-employed, farmers, loggers and employees who work on commission.

DUA is available from weeks of unemployment beginning Aug. 23, 2020 and up to Feb. 27, 2021, as long as the individual’s unemployment continues to be a direct result of the disaster.

Affected workers in 21 parishes designated for FEMA Individual Assistance in Louisiana must first apply for regular unemployment insurance. To see if you lived in a designated parish, visit: fema.gov/disaster/4559/designated-areas.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission notifies claimants if they are eligible to file for disaster unemployment assistance.

Applicants can apply by visiting www.laworks.net, the Helping Individuals Reach Employment portal.

Claimants may also file by telephone by calling the Benefits Analysis Team at 866-783-5567 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For the latest information on Hurricane Laura, visit www.fema.gov/disaster/4559 or follow the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at twitter.com/FEMARegion6.