Governor Edwards announced during a news conference yesterday that FEMA has approved Louisiana’s plan to pay for additional unemployment benefits, mandated by President Donald Trump’s executive order, by drawing from the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund. Edwards says the state will receive the money from FEMA by the end of this week and he anticipates the Louisiana Workforce Commission will begin making the additional $300 in unemployment benefits to residents sometime during the week of Aug 24 to Aug. 28. The additional benefits will be retroactive to Aug. 1.
Edwards said due to new guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, that not all people currently on unemployment in Louisiana will receive the additional benefits. About 67,000 unemployed workers who were receiving less than $100 in benefits will not qualify for the additional unemployment benefits under the federal guidelines.
