Unemployed Floridians hopeful for quick passage of COVID relief bill to avoid lapse in benefits
Unemployed Floridians hopeful for quick passage of COVID relief bill to avoid lapse in benefits
By: McKenna King
and last updated 2021-03-08 05:07:23-05
Thousands of unemployed Floridians are anxiously awaiting the passage of the third COVID-19 relief bill, which would extend federal benefits currently set to expire in just one week.
March 14 currently marks the end of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, unless congress passes the third stimulus bill and gets the Presidentâs signature by the end of the week.
If the bill passes, it would extend the weekly $300 in FPUC for unemployed Americans, and send $1,400 stimulus payments to many Americans. All part of the third stimulus bill Congress has voted on since the start of the pandemic.
Florida inspector general report finds longstanding problems with state unemployment system
Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT system crashed last spring
Jim Turner, News Service of Florida reporter
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The investigation into why Florida paid more than 77-million-dollars for a faulty unemployment technology system is undeway
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s online unemployment system was never tested to meet the demands encountered during the coronavirus pandemic, and more than a dozen issues remained outstanding years after the system went live, according to a report released Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
The 95-page draft report by Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel focused on the Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT unemployment system, which cost $78 million and began operating in 2013. The system largely crashed last spring when it was inundated with claims as businesses shut down because of the pandemic.
Florida Inspector General: Capacity for unemployment system never fully tested
Contracted to handle 200,000 users at a time, only tested for 4,200
The Chief Inspector General has released a preliminary report on how the state unemployment system handled an unprecedented spike in claims.
and last updated 2021-03-04 23:19:40-05
The Chief Inspector General s Office has released its preliminary report on the Department of Economic Opportunity s unemployment system, CONNECT.
Governor Ron DeSantis directed Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel to initiate the review of CONNECT in May 2020 after an unprecedented spike in unemployment claims due to the pandemic.
âOne point that I found to be just shocking is the fact that the contract that Deloitte was selected for was not actually fulfilled, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, told I-Team Investigator Kylie McGivern.
Updated on January 14, 2021 at 7:13 pm
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Sal Gatanio says he lost his job in April, and has dealt with financial hardship since then, like so many facing unemployment during the pandemic.
“At first, with the $600 extra that the government gave out with the pandemic unemployment assistance, that was great,” he said. “Once that stopped in the end of July, for the past six months, it’s just been brutal.”
He says he felt some relief Thursday after seeing the first Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) payment of $300 pop into his account.
“I have a smile on my face now,” he said. “For the past couple of weeks, I really have not had a smile on my face.”