How do you claim unemployment benefits in Louisiana?
Louisiana pays $35 to $282 a week, and the exact figure comes from your base period wages. The first step is a claim in HiRE, the Louisiana Workforce Commission's online system.
File a claim by phone: 1-866-783-5567
Unemployment Insurance in Louisiana is temporary financial help for people who are out of work through no fault of their own and who meet the Louisiana Employment Security Law's requirements. Employers carry the whole cost of it, through a payroll tax or a reimbursable program, and nothing comes out of your wages.
The first steps
- File your claim in HiRE, the Commission's online system, or call 1-866-783-5567 if you cannot get online.
- Verify your identity. No payment can be issued until that is done.
- File a weekly claim every week you are out of work, and report any work and earnings on it.
How to file covers what to have ready and what happens in the first weeks.
What sets your amount, and your weeks
Your weekly amount comes from the wages your employers reported in your base period. Who qualifies sets out the wage tests a claim has to pass and the reasons one can be turned down.
The number of weeks moves on its own clock: it follows Louisiana's average unemployment rate, and the Commission has to republish the current maximum on its website twice a year, so the figure can change. How long benefits last has the detail.
Help in person
You may be told to visit an American Job Center for an eligibility review and reemployment services appointment, and benefits may be denied if you do not attend. Offices and phone numbers lists every center by city, with its address and phone number.
Louisiana unemployment guides
- How to fileFiling in HiRE or by phone, what to have ready, and the first weeks
- Who qualifiesBase period wages, why the job ended, and staying able and available
- How much it paysThe weekly amount, what reduces it, and part-time work
- How long it lastsHow many weeks a claim pays, and what happens when it ends
- Weekly claims and work searchFiling each week, the work search rules, and how payment reaches you
- Denials, appeals, and overpaymentsThe 15-day deadline, the hearing, overpayments, and fraud penalties
- TaxesFederal tax, state tax, withholding, and Form 1099-G
- Offices and phone numbersThe claims line, the appeal contacts, and the centers by city
- DisabilitySocial Security's Disability, where to apply, and the state rehab program
- JobsThe state job bank, the career centers, and the career tools
- Questions and answersAnswers that cross the guides, plus food, health, and 211 help