I am helping a desperate friend try to resolve an enormous problem with Louisiana's unemployment system. In doing so I discovered something that defies any rational explanation, but certainly smells like a mixture of incompetence, evil doing and financial chicanery with federal dollars on behalf of the State of Louisiana. As best as I can, I will try to explain the situation below.
Louisiana offers 24 weeks of unemployment from state funds, I believe the second fewest next to North Carolina which recently changed it to 19 weeks. Payments are very modest. My friend was receiving $189 a week which from what I understand is about average even though he was earning in the $30,000 range yearly at a job he held for 5 years. When the 24 weeks are up an extended benefit period of 14 weeks of Federal unemployment benefits is available. Due to sequestration that payment is supposed to be reduced to $157 weekly, a reduction of 16.8%.
The State Office of Unemployment Insurance Administration has no actual office where the public can go to file a claim, get questions answered or perform any function that you might expect to be able to do at a state unemployment office. The actual bricks and mortar unemployment offices have all been eliminated. They system now requires you to use either the telephone or a website to conduct all business of any kind.
When your first 24 weeks of benefits are up, and you are still unemployed, the 14 additional weeks of federal payments that you are entitled to under law are stopped by the State of Louisiana. Apparently an additional 2nd filing is required to get these additional funds that you are entitled to under Federal law. However, you cannot file this necessary 2nd claim on the State's website, by mail, or in person. You must file by phone. However, there is absolutely no information on the website that actually tells you how to file for the federal benefits, nor does it even inform you that this second filing requirement even exists. No letter is sent. Nothing. Let me take that back. The State sends you a letter telling you that your benefits have been exhausted. Nothing further. If you weren't well informed the letter would mislead you into thinking that there were no additional Federal benefits that were available.
If somehow you magically found out that you needed to file a 2nd double secret unemployment claim by telephone to receive the extended Federal benefits you would probably still be SOL. That's because the telephone system is frequently down. Down as in all day everyday recently. It was down at least 2 days last week and it is down again today. My friend ran into someone who told him about the phone filing system and he was lucky enough to get through on July 21st and did indeed file his 2nd Federal claim and continued his weekly filings of job applications which unemployment also requires. He did so, but no payment was issued. Since the State moves slowly, he expected payments to resume at least within 2 weeks. 2 weeks go by and still no payment. No letter, no explanation, no nothing.
Your only recourse at this point is to just keep calling the same number the state provides and hope someone actually answers. After 10 minutes of voicemail prompts that go nowhere, the telephone system makes an appointment to call you back. They made two in two days, but no call backs. They never call back. After several days we finally got someone to answer after waiting more than 45 minutes on hold. What she told us is kind of hard to believe so I will try to go slowly.
The State not only requires a superfluous double secret refiling to receive the extended Federal unemployment benefits. They do a "14 day review" of the claim. We asked what this meant and we were told its just a delay period. Nobody apparently actually reviews anything. The csr for the state did confirm that the unemployed claimant had done everything to the letter that was required of him and that his double secret second filing for extended Federal benefits had been timely. She was also able to confirm an exact date when payments, now reduced by sequestration, would resume which is August 21st. August 21st is exactly a month after the filing, not 14 days.
To make a long rant shorter, while they do not inform anyone of this, the State of Louisiana is making all unemployment claimants who seek extended Federal benefits to go through a month long interruption in unemployment payments...because. The good news is that you get back payments (without interest) from the date of filing. The bad news is that the State goes out of its way to hide this fact from claimants inflicting undue financial hardship. Evictions occur, (takes 10 days from nonpayment of rent before the sheriff tosses your stuff on the street) life saving prescriptions go unfilled, utilities get turned off, etc. for no apparent reason.
I am wondering if the State gets to sit on those Federal benefits for a month collecting interest before dispersing it to the claimants. It would certainly appear that is what is behind this horrendous abuse of those who are most vulnerable.
If anyone with anymore expertise regarding the Louisiana Unemployment claim process wants to correct any errors I may have mistakenly made, or if you anything of value to add to this topic, please feel free to comment. If you have any specific questions, I will try to post an answer. If you are thinking of moving to New Orleans (like so many have in the last couple of years), I strongly advise you to reconsider. A nice place to visit, but its backwardness makes it almost impossible to live here.