Floridians denied state unemployment benefits

Florida — After weeks of waiting for unemployment benefits, many Floridians found out Monday they were ruled ineligible, despite seeming to meet all of the requirements.

Ashley Robinson, a Jacksonville mother with three children, applied for unemployment benefits on March 22 after she was laid off from her job.

Robinson said she was denied state unemployment benefits on Monday without any explanation.

“I absolutely feel I was wrongfully denied for unemployment,” Robinson said. “I did the right things and the system is failing me.”

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said 263,164 of the 652,296 unemployment claims the state has processed have been determined to be ineligible as of April 26.

That’s roughly 40% of the claims filed after March 15.

According to the DOE, these are the eligibility requirements:

• You must have lost your job through no fault of your own, so you must not have quit for personal reasons or been terminated for misconduct.
• You must be totally or partially unemployed.
• You must have a minimum amount of wages earned in what is called the “base period,” which is the first 12 months of the past 15 months from when you filed your claim.
• At the time you apply, you must be able to work, available for work, and actively seeking work, unless otherwise exempt from this requirement.
• This includes being physically able to perform a job and having child care if necessary.
• Gig workers and self-employed people who get 1099’s aren’t eligible for state unemployment, but they can get the federal benefit of $600 per week by logging onto Floridajobs.org and applying.

The DEO said it made significant progress in processing claims.

Last week, the department paid almost $412 million to Floridians, which is an increase of almost 600% over the week.

According to the DEO, there are numerous reasons individuals could be deemed ineligible for state Reemployment Assistance Benefits, including wage base period issues, lack of wage history, among others.

The Reemployment Assistance Handbook has examples of why individuals might be deemed ineligible.

If you were deemed not eligible, you could still be eligible for federal benefits.

The DEO said you will be able to log in to CONNECT and complete the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

MORE: Reemployment Assistance Resource Guide - COVID-19 | Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Benefit Rights and Responsibilities

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