COVID-19

Resources

COVID-19

The Louisiana Small Business Development Center is available to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs virtually during COVID-19.

Small Business Paycheck Protection Program

The Paycheck Protection Program is providing small businesses with the resources they need to maintain their payroll, hire back employees who may have been laid off, and cover applicable overhead

Established by the CARES Act, the program is implemented by the Small Business Administration with support from the Department of the Treasury. This program provides small businesses with funds to pay up to 8 weeks of payroll costs including benefits. Funds can also be used to pay interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.

The Paycheck Protection Program prioritizes millions of Americans employed by small businesses by authorizing up to $349 billion toward job retention and certain other expenses.Small businesses and eligible nonprofit organizations, Veterans organizations, and Tribal businesses described in the Small Business Act, as well as individuals who are self-employed or are independent contractors, are eligible if they also meet program size standards.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, small business owners in all U.S. states, Washington D.C., and territories are eligible to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan advance of up to $10,000. This advance will provide economic relief to businesses that are currently experiencing a temporary loss of revenue. Funds will be made available following a successful application. This loan advance will not have to be repaid.

The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan provides vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This program is for any small business with fewer than 500 employees (including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed persons), private non-profit organization or 501(c)(19) veterans organizations affected by COVID-19. Businesses in certain industries may have more than 500 employees if they meet the SBA’s size standards for those industries.

The Economic Injury Disaster Loan advance funds will be made available within days of a successful application.

Information for Employers in Louisiana

If you are temporarily closing or reducing your hours of operations due to COVID-19, please contact the Louisiana Workforce Commission to discuss how it can provide assistance and answer your questions about unemployment insurance and other programs and resources available

Contact Louisiana Workforce Commission at EmployerServices@lwc.la.gov with your unemployment insurance questions. Be sure to provide your company’s name, a point of contact, telephone number and email address, as well as specifics on the assistance you are requesting. The Employer Call Center, 225-326-6999, is also available.

Employers are invited to participate in the LWC pilot HiRE Employer UI Services portal. The portal allows employers to receive and submit UI responses electronically.

If you would like to participate, please submit the following registration information to the HIRE Management Office at HMO@lwc.la.gov

  • Name of person who will serve as Primary UI Contact
  • Phone number of person designated to be Primary UI Contact
  • Email address of person designated to be Primary UI Contac
  • Employer Account Number (EAN) of company to be integrated into HiRE UI Employer Services as an early adopter
  • Desired HiRE username for the Primary UI Contact

The Primary UI Contact MUST respond YES to the following statement in the reply/request email:

I acknowledge that by requesting access to Unemployment Services, this new user will be responsible for responding timely to requests for information made by the Louisiana Workforce Commission in accordance with Louisiana Employment Security Law.

*Please note that the service is only available to employers with single EAN. Each EAN will need to be registered with its own separate HiRE account.

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