JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The Department Of Economic Opportunity has released promising new statistics to illustrate just how many claimants have been paid, but there’s a catch that some say is misleading.
DEO released the following statement Tuesday:
“99.6 percent of all eligible benefits requested prior to September 4, 2020, for state Reemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) have been paid to claimants. Additionally, 99.9 percent of all eligible benefits requested by claimants prior to September 4, 2020, have also received their corresponding Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefits for that week.”
The keyword in that statement is "eligible." The problem is, the thousands of Floridians having trouble getting paid are deemed ineligible. Many who are deemed ineligible, but say they should be eligible, are having issues with wage determinations, various holds on claims and glitches in the system.
Mandy Ree, who is legally blind and was furloughed from her job as a market researcher says these statistics mean nothing if they don’t reflect those actually having problems.
“They’re putting on a show, is basically what it is,” Ree said. “They just need to be honest and upfront because what we need now is transparency.”
First Coast News spoke with DEO’s Tiffany Vouse by phone Wednesday.
We asked her if 99.6% of all claimed weeks have been paid and she says no. She says if people are claiming their weeks and not receiving benefits, their claims may be on hold, so they would not be included in this statistic.
Vause says there are many reasons a claim could be on hold, and they need to be addressed on a claim by claim basis.
DEO suggests if you are having issues with your claim to do the following:
- Check that you have requested benefits;
- Check that the weeks you are requesting are eligible weeks; and
- Check that your account information in CONNECT is up-to-date and accurate.
- If a claimant needs additional assistance, they should call the Reemployment Assistance Customer Service Center at 1-833-FL-APPLY.