NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is directing state government to extend unemployment insurance benefits furloughed employees.
As the partial federal government shutdown stretched into its 35th day, Edwards' office said the Louisiana Workforce Commission will extend UI eligibility to 1,500 federal employees expected to work during the shutdown. Those expected employees, who work at agencies like the U.S. Coast Guard Transportation Security Administration and National Weather Service, were disqualified by law to receive unemployment benefits.
“These individuals deserve every bit of our support during this difficult time," Edwards said. "Providing them with unemployment benefits is just the right thing to do.”
LWC Sec. Ava Dejoie warned that there is "one very critical caveat" for federal employees who do decide to take advantage of the UI benefits. Because those employees are expected to get back pay after the shutdown ends, UI benefits will likely need to be repaid.
"For many of these employees, UI benefits will serve as somewhat of a stopgap until the federal shutdown ends," Dejoie said. "Until then, we will continue to serve these individuals as we would any other qualifying workers.”
Louisiana's maximum weekly benefit is $247.00. The maximum eligibility period in Louisiana is 26 weeks, for a total maximum benefit of $6,422. All UI benefits must be reimbursed to the LWC upon payment of back wages.
Louisiana workers can begin the application process immediately for the current eligibility period.
Louisiana joins Colorado, California, Vermont and the District of Columbia in paying benefits to furloughed workers.