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Folks -- Thanks to Senator Lieberman, USDOL just issued a helpful letter authorizing DUA benefits for those workers who found temporary jobs where they relocated after the Gulf Coast storms, then had to leave their jobs in the process of returning to their homes in Louisiana and elsewhere.
Under DOL's prior policy, ANY "interim" employment was enough to disqualify these workers from collecting DUA, thus making it especially difficult for the large numbers of families now struggling to get back home and help rebuild their communities. For families who evacuated to your states as a result of the storms, this issue may well be very common. The major challenge now, especially since the DUA program has expired, is to get the states to track down all the folks who should have collected the benefits and make sure they get them retroactively. Please let us know if this issue has come up with families that may have made their way to your states, and we should be able to help to ensure that Louisiana's agency helps them out.

Here's a link to Senator Lieberman's press release and attachments for both the Senator's letter and the DOL's response.

Press Release:
http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Affiliation=R&PressRelease_id=1264&Month=6&Year=2006