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Media contact: Sheryl Hutchison, communications director, 360-902-9289

OLYMPIA - Workers and self-employed individuals who lost jobs or whose work hours were substantially cut because of the State Route 530 landslide have just one more week to apply for disaster unemployment assistance.

Applications must be submitted to the Washington state Employment Security Department by 5 p.m. on May 5.

Benefits are payable for work lost the week of March 23, 2014, or later. Qualified applicants will be eligible to receive assistance of $194 to $624 per week.\

Disaster unemployment assistance is only for people who don’t qualify for regular unemployment benefits. Also, the lack of work or reduced work hours must directly result from the landslide.

To apply, Employment Security has activated a special SR-530 disaster phone line for claims: 855-636-5610, option 1.

Examples of potentially eligible applicants include:

• Self-employed individuals and business owners who can’t operate their business.
• Workers whose worksite was damaged or destroyed, or is inaccessible because a road or the business is closed.
• Employees of a business that received most of its revenue from another entity that was damaged or destroyed in the disaster.
• People who were prevented from beginning a new job.
• Workers who can’t work due to an injury suffered in the disaster.
• People who became the head of their households because of a death caused by the disaster.
• Workers who didn’t have enough base-year hours to qualify for regular benefits.

More information online

Employment Security has created a special Snohomish Co. disaster response Web page with additional information for people affected by the landslide disaster.

The Employment Security Department administers the federal disaster-benefits program for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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