BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) issued a Friday afternoon news release stating that at the request of Governor John Bel Edwards, President Joe Biden officially granted a major disaster declaration request for five Louisiana parishes.

This makes disaster unemployment assistance (DUA) available to businesses and residents whose employment or self-employment was lost or interrupted as a direct result of severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding which occurred between May 17 and May 21, 2021.

As a result, LWC is accepting applications for DUA from residents and businesses in the following parishes until the deadline of July 6, 2021: Ascension, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, and Lafayette Parishes.

Individuals affected in these designated disaster areas must file DUA applications by established deadlines.

DUA is available to those who:

-Worked or were self-employed or were scheduled to begin work or self-employment; and

-Do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), or Extended Benefits (EB) from any state; and

-Were unable to reach their job or self-employment location because they must travel through the affected area and are prevented from doing so by the disaster; or

-Can no longer work or perform services because of physical damage or destruction to the place of employment as a direct result of the disaster; or

-Can not physically access the place of employment due to its closure by the federal, state, or local government in immediate response to the disaster; or

-Can establish that the work or self-employment they can no longer perform was their principal source of income; or

-Cannot perform work or self-employment because of an injury as a direct result of the disaster; or

-Became the breadwinner or major support of a household because of the death of the head of household.

Applications filed after the deadline will be considered untimely and DUA benefits may be denied unless the individual provides good cause for filing after that date; therefore, claimants should file as soon as possible.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to file their DUA applications online by visiting www.laworks.net through the LWC’s HiRE (Helping Individuals Reach Employment) portal.

Applicants may also file by telephone by calling the Benefits Analysis Team at 1-866-783-5567 from Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CDT.