BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Workforce Commission will allow individuals to file their weekly certifications based on the last digit of their social security number beginning Sunday, April 26.

The LWC has paid out $561,358,411 in total benefits to over 302,000 Louisianians whose employment has been impacted during the unprecedented COVID-19 event. For comparison in all of 2019, LWC paid a total of $151,781,786 for 103,000 claimants, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

The LWC is aware of the system issues that weekly recertifications have caused due to the number of individuals trying to access the online portal at the same time. 

A breakdown is below:
-       Sunday – 0 – 3
-       Monday – 4 – 6
-       Tuesday – 7 – 9
-       All accepted – Wednesday – Saturday

The LWC is also currently in the process of adding another server to its network to be able to handle more online volume. The LWC has already added servers and additional operating capacity twice before the current upgrade.

All individuals will get the payments that they are entitled to retroactive to April 4, and for any other time period related to COVID-19 events, the LWC said.

“We are continuing to work around the clock to make sure each and every citizen receive all benefits for which they are eligible,” Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie said. 

“The processing of large payment files and on-going programming is part of our continuing efforts to meet the historical demand for benefits, but people are receiving benefits,” Dejoie said. “The LWC will never stop working to improve our systems to make filing as easy as possible.”