As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into September and southwest Louisiana fights to recover from Hurricane Laura, record numbers of Louisianians are seeking unemployment assistance. To help understand what Congress has (or has not) done to help, what President Trump’s executive orders mean, and where the state government is jumping in to fill the gaps, Newell spoke to Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie Monday morning.
“For the benefit of the listening audience, can we just do a quick recap of each individual recap that you guys are processing at the current time?” Newell began. “The standard state benefit is still out there, correct?”“We have our standard state benefit, and then of course the $600 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) is no more as of right now because Congress did not extend those benefits. We also have extended benefits for individuals that have exhausted 26 weeks of state benefits - that is our Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). We’re operating PUA, the benefit available for 1099 workers and those that don’t qualify for state benefits, the weekly maximum benefit there is $107. We’re operating LWA or Lost Wage Assistance - that’s the $300 available via President Trump’s executive order, available for anyone receiving over $100 in state weekly benefits, or from PUA. As long as you’re making $100 in unemployment insurance benefits, you’re eligible for LWA. The state does not have any flexibility on that. For those folks impacted by the hurricane, we’ve started on Disaster Unemployment Assistance, or DUA, available only in those affected parishes. It’s a lot!”
“So the only one that’s off the table is the FPUC,” Newell continued. “Let’s talk about LWA because that’s the new one… what are the conditions of that, other than you have to be eligible under the underlying state benefit to the amount of $100. What other conditions or restrictions are there on that?”“Your maximum weekly benefit needs to be at $100,” Dejoie said. “That is the maximum benefit that you are eligible for based on what you reported. Even if you're receiving less than $100, if your maximum weekly benefit calculation or your eligibility is above $100, you’d be eligible. Right now, that will go until that money runs out. $44 billion was appropriated for all 50 states for this benefit and it’s actually FEMA funding that was appropriated under the individual assistance component of FEMA. We estimate that funding will run out in six weeks, so we are anxiously awaiting action by Congress, and a signature by the President. It’s very important that Congress acts to provide some long-term stability here.”
“And the Governor indicated the other day that the Louisiana Workforce Commission has started to process LWA, correct?”