Out-of-work Floridians must request benefits through unemployment website every two weeks
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - For many Floridians, the state's unemployment website has been a source of headaches and frustration for weeks and, for some, even months. There's one more step claimants will need to be aware of to ensure they receive their unemployment funds.
Governor Ron Desantis announced over the weekend that for Floridians who are out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will need to check back in with the CONNECT website every two weeks to confirm that they are still unemployed in order to receive their unemployment benefits.
This step had been previously waived by the governor to relieve stress for Floridians and also to alleviate the traffic on the unemployment website which has struggled to process the record number of unemployment claims. However, now the governor says that once again this is now a necessary step.
This announcement comes after the governor told reporters that things are starting to look up. The state has spent over 100 million dollars trying to fix the unemployment website system, and Desantis said it's paying off.
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As of Friday, over half a million Floridians had received their checks with over $1.2 billion being sent out in both unemployment and relief funds. However, the governor recognizes more work still needs to be done.
“This was a system that was obviously very problematic. There's been a lot of work done to get money out. There’s still work being done on it every day,” said Desantis during a press conference Friday.
The DEO’s website was once again down this weekend in an effort to allow time to get ahead on approving claims, as many Floridians continue to wait for their status on the site to change.
The blame game over Florida’s unemployment system
As he likes to point out, Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t build the state’s bad unemployment system. Former Governor Scott is the one who gave us the clunker. But while Scott bought it, DeSantis has been driving it for more than a year -- and by his own admission was unaware it was in tatters, even weeks after the pandemic struck.
It is scheduled to be back online Monday at 8 a.m. Once it does, claimants will be able to request their benefit payment.
In order to keep receiving those unemployment checks, claimants will need to check in with the CONNECT system every two weeks or those claims will stop being processed.
LINK: To see a step by step guide on how to apply, click here.