Fraudulent claims cause LWC to halt unemployment benefits to new applicants

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) is seeing a lot more claims this year. Some of them have been fraudulent and now it’s affecting your benefits.

More than 160,000 Louisiana residents who have filed for unemployment benefits may not get paid.

As of November 5, the Louisiana Workforce Commission says they have halted payments for new applicants after seeing a spike in fraudulent claims.

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“I was lucky enough to have money saved up ahead of time,” Jared Kling, an unemployed resident, tells WAFB.

Kling says he was approved for benefits and started receiving payments over the summer. But he says the checks stopped coming around the same time the LWC began halting payments.

“They said I should have been paid for it and haven’t been paid for it and I can’t get in contact with anybody,” Kling says. I reached out to the LWC.

A representative tells WAFB the LWC is working to minimize the delays in payments and will quickly work to implement new security measures, which include having applicants upload identity verification documents.

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But for so many like Kling time is of the essence.

“Money is starting to run low and I’m starting to have to worry. I’m applying every day for new jobs but everyone wants more experience than what I have.” Kling says. “It’s not fun. It definitely gets on your nerves a lot. Because I’m used to having money and being able to pay all of my bills. I luckily I have my mother to help me pay bills because I’m starting to run low on money.”

The LWC tells WAFB while they cannot discuss Kling’s claim. they are working to resolve the issue.

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