In A Flash

Ineligible Louisiana state employees received over $6 million in unemployment assistance

By: JC Canicosa - February 14, 2022 2:11 pm

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Louisiana paid out about $6.1 million in unemployment assistance to more than 1,000 state employees “who did not appear to be eligible” from Feb. 20, 2020, to July 24, 2021, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found.

“While some of these employees may have been victims of identity theft, others appear to have received benefit payments for which they were ineligible,” the audit found.

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The report on improper payments to ineligible state employees comes as the auditor found last year that Louisiana paid more than $405 million in fraudulent or ineligible pandemic relief benefits to nearly 100,000 people as an overwhelmed unemployment system was also affected by legislation passed by lawmakers in 2020.

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Louisiana lawmakers also ended federal unemployment benefits early last year in an effort to get more Louisianans back into the workforce.

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JC Canicosa

JC Canicosa is a former Louisiana Illuminator reporter. Prior to working with the Illuminator, Canicosa worked for Investigate-TV and The Loyola Maroon. Canicosa earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Loyola University New Orleans. At Loyola, he was the senior staff writer at The Maroon and the president of the school's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Off the clock, Canicosa enjoys playing basketball, watching movies and dabbling in comedy writing.