Wisconsin now has disaster unemployment assistance available to folks who have lost work because of the recent flooding and rains. For residents of Crawford, Dane, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland, Sauk, and Vernon counties, the deadline for applying for such assistance is 23 November 2018. And, such assistance is available to self-employed folks as well.
Be careful, however. The Department of Workforce Development will charge you with criminal fraud for any claim-filing mistakes you make, no matter how unintentional those mistakes might be.
As I have indicated repeatedly (here, here, and here, for instance), filing an unemployment claim today is a BIG risk because of the Department’s zealousness for charging fraud when making non-intentional claim-filing mistakes.
The fact that the Department features three publications (and only these three) that generally (the claimant’s handbook) or only warn against claimant fraud (DUA rights and responsibilities and Notice to all DUA applicants) reinforces this warning. These documents represent the Department’s way of explaining to you that the Department will hold you strictly liable for your claim-filing mistakes.
In other words, do NOT file a claim for unemployment benefits unless you absolutely have to. And even then, double-check everything you write down and take notes of everything you do and of every interaction you have with the Department.
Wisconsin Unemployment 