Meghan Friedmann
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
(TNS)
Louisiana could require residents who get unemployment insurance to do more to find new jobs if a bill advancing in the legislature becomes law.
House Bill 153, which passed the state House by a vote of 73-24 on Monday, with most Democrats opposed, would require those collecting unemployment benefits to perform five work search actions a week. Currently, the Louisiana Workforce Commission requires three weekly work search actions, a standard that is not codified in state statute, said Secretary Susana Schowen.
Work search actions can include attending interviews, filling out job applications, doing mock interviews and attending job fairs and networking events, said Schowen. Part of HB153 directs the LWC to define appropriate work search actions through its regulations.
The goal of the bill is to get jobless Louisianans back into the workforce more quickly, proponents say.
“When you’re out of work, unemployment is a needed benefit, but it’s a benefit that comes with criteria,” said state Rep. Troy Hebert, R-Lafayette, who is sponsoring HB153. He hopes meeting those criteria will speed folks’ return to work, he said.
But critics feel the bill would be overly burdensome, especially for Louisianans in rural areas.
“If you lose a job, and there are limited job opportunities in the community, then it’s going to be difficult to try to get five applications out,” said state Rep. Ed Larvadain III, D-Alexandria, adding that the burden could be especially tough on single parents who might need to drive long distances to complete work search actions.
Larvadain also worried the bill could force people to move away from their communities to reenter the workforce.
“You may not be able to find a good job in your area within a short period of time,” Larvadain said.
On the House floor, Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, argued the bill would force people to apply to jobs that weren’t appropriate for them.
In an interview, Hebert disputed the notion that adding two more work search actions was an unrealistic requirement.
“We’re going from three to five, so you could say that’s one action a day, Monday through Friday,” he said. “I don’t see how this will create any kind of additional burden or create scenarios to hurt individuals.”
Hebert says the idea for HB153 was brought to him by the Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based public policy think tank.
Other changes to the law
HB153 further says people may be disqualified from receiving benefits if they miss a scheduled job interview or do not accept a suitable job offer. The LWC already disqualifies people under those conditions, Schowen said, and the bill is simply codifying that practice.
In part, HB153 reflects a bid to crack down on interview “ghosting,” in response to complaints from businesses who say they’ve scheduled multiple interviews a day only to have most interviewees not show up, Hebert said on the House floor.
One practice that would be new if the bill passes: the bill says people could be disqualified from receiving benefits for failing to attend job trainings, if they were assigned those trainings by the LWC. The LWC does not currently disqualify people for missed job trainings, Schowen said.
The LWC isn’t looking to take away people’s benefits for small oversights such as one missed interview, Schowen said. If someone has a good reason to miss an interview, they would not be penalized, she added.
Instead, it is looking for repeat offenders, people who are trying to game the system by setting up interviews and then not attending them, she said.
“Our agency doesn’t want to play ‘gotcha’ to take away people’s benefits,” Schowen said in a statement. “We care about helping people to get back to work quickly by ensuring they do what works to make that happen. This legislation gives us tools to achieve that goal.”
The LWC has two portals where employers can report that someone missed an interview or did not accept a job offer.
The LWC received 3,500 submissions through those portals last year, which led to 31 people being disqualified from receiving benefits, Schowen said.
HB153 would officially require the state to provide a way for employers to report people who missed interviews or did not accept work, codifying the portals. Hebert said he wants to ensure the portals stay in place going forward.
Unemployment insurance in Louisiana
The bill comes one year after the Legislature passed a law cutting unemployment benefits. Previously, jobless Louisianans could collect 26 weeks’ worth of benefits. Now, that number ranges from 12 to 20 weeks based on the unemployment rate.
Under the current unemployment rate of 4.4%, benefits max out at 12 weeks, said Schowen.
As of mid-April, about 10,500 people were filing continued claims for unemployment insurance benefits, the LWC said. Those who receive benefits must be unemployed through no fault of their own.
Louisiana offers some of the most meager unemployment benefits in the country. During the fourth quarter of 2024, claimants in Louisiana collected $253 a week on average, according to data from the United States Department of Labor. That was less than every state except Mississippi, where the average was $223, the data shows.
About 12% of jobless people receive unemployment benefits, the fourth-lowest rate among all 50 states, the data shows.
“Nobody is sitting at home eating filet mignon on the unemployment benefits that they are paid by the state of Louisiana,” said Jan Moller, executive director of Invest in Louisiana, an organization that supports state programs that help low-income people.
© 2025 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Visit www.nola.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Tags: louisiana, Payroll, unemployment benefits
