DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Lately, it seems Florida’s big-money developers have put a target on every rural spot that’s left on the map of Florida.

A preliminary review by News 6 found several residents have experienced similar cases where Homeowner Assistance funds paid by the DEO could not be accounted for.

Charlene Renaud is the first to admit she was ready to leave 10 weeks of back unemployment benefits behind.

Since late February, the Department of Economic Opportunity has navigated a post-COVID financial lifeline for more than 11,000 homeowners across the state.

The thrill of winning an instant lottery prize turned to unexpected disappointment for Mike Everett, Maria Sanchez and at least 13 other Florida Lottery winners who were told their prize was garnished by the Department of Economic Opportunity to cover unemployment overpayments.

At the strike of midnight Saturday, the Department of Economic Opportunity’s successful Homeowner Assistance Program will stop accepting new registrations from Florida homeowners seeking financial help.

Peter and his wife Nanette told News 6 they borrowed money and depleted 10 years of savings waiting for the Department of Economic Opportunity to issue Peter’s unemployment benefits dating back to September 2020.

Carsa Craighton has been waiting since December 2020 to have more than $4,000 in state unemployment benefits reissued to her Way2Go debit card after the Department of Economic Opportunity took the funds back.

As of Thursday, May 26, Reemployment Assistance claimants now have the option to verify their identities for Reemployment Assistance accounts directly with a “live human agent.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference Friday morning in Williston.

This is the latest edition of the Make Ends Meet newsletter.

DeSantis awarded $5.4 million for public infrastructure improvements and to support manufacturing.

The number of Flagler County residents with jobs--46,902--is almost 1,000 greater than it was in January 2020, just before the pandemic.

The IRS has set up special hours at its taxpayer assistance center in Maitland with no appointment required.

The fight to change Florida’s sexual assault law appears to be destined to fade away this legislative session, leaving a potential loophole for anyone accused of raping someone incapacitated by drugs or alcohol.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference in Vero Beach.

The latest version of unemployment fraud showed up in the files of a Central Florida commercial real estate company as 18 people filed claims for a company they never worked for.

In October, Baker landed what she thought was the perfect at home job offer but it turned out to be a scheme she has seen dozens of times since.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding a news conference Monday morning in Madison, Florida.

Jason Baker is one of thousands of Florida unemployment claimants experiencing an old-fashioned paper chase for a 1099-G tax form.

Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Friday in the Florida Panhandle to give out millions of dollars in relief funds to communities in northwest Florida.

The Department of Labor is planning to develop job training and workforce programs to address the specific needs of cities coast to coast, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh told News 6.

John “Jack” Sullivan never thought he would be collecting unemployment benefits at this stage of his life, but at 78 years old, the retired sales manager not only needed benefits, but was “stuck” waiting for those benefits since August 2020.

A veteran Volusia County Schools paraprofessional recently discovered her Department of Economic Opportunity account had been hacked by an imposter.

John Marlatt said the process to reapply with the Department of Economic Opportunity was made worse by long waits on the telephone and frustrating delays.

Beverly Jerome and her husband have been caught in a state unemployment “return to work” issue dating back to Sept. 22, 2020.

Florida residents hit with an overpayment notice for Reemployment Assistance benefits between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 4, 2021, through no fault of their own, will not be going to collections.

Sara Marie, of Fort Myers, is one of thousands of Florida residents tired of waiting for unpaid unemployment benefits, wondering if they will ever get paid.

A single mother of three and a man have been living the same Department of Economic Opportunity benefits delay for the last 6 months.

From mid-March to May 2020, the DEO was automatically requesting payments for people. “All I drew (for unemployment) was about six weeks,” Watwood said. They’re among those dealing with the latest round of overpayment notices from DEO. Read: City of Winter Park hosting job fair to fill 50 open positions“Navigating this has been one of the newest crises of the unemployment system,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani said. “While the system automatically processed your Reemployment Assistance benefits, claimants will now need to recertify these weeks in the system.

Instead of a check for $1,000, a Titusville waitress received a check for $175 with an explanation that the missing funds were directed to the DEO because of an unemployment benefits overpayment.

A local audio engineer and his family are out of sync after trying to acquire his “expired” benefits from the Department of Economic Opportunity for the past six months.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis makes an announcement in Niceville.

When Orange County Fire Rescue veteran Erik Siena lost his 5-month battle with brain cancer this past May, his wife Cristy filed for the death benefit provided under Florida Senate Bill 426.

A new multi-authentication system debuted by the Department of Economic Opportunity Thursday receiving a mix of happy and very frustrated claimants.

An ambitious security protocol launched by the Department of Economic Opportunity is aimed to help protect claimants in Florida.

“The system does work when you have people like you trying to help people like us,” Brown said. “You give us a voice.”

The department is working on a timeline of 5 business days to update and reset accounts as information is reviewed and account holders are contacted.

The funding to Port St. Lucie will contribute to over 5,000 jobs in the area.

The Department of Economic Opportunity says there was a data security incident involving potentially fraudulent activity connected to claimant accounts within the Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System, commonly known as CONNECT.

Anna Maria Brown’s unemployment benefits have been stuck in “pending status” because a five-day job with a Miami pet clinic last October triggered a returned to work status from the Department of Economic Opportunity.

Lisa and David Fontana never imagined they would be dependent on state unemployment benefits when they moved to the Orlando area from Chicago in 2020.

The couple told News 6 there were no problems with their DEO accounts until they “recertified.”

An Orlando police reserves officer has been suspended over claims he misused state unemployment funds, department and city officials confirmed.

Effective June 1, unemployment claimants will be required to search for work to continue collecting unemployment benefits.

Francisco Mojica admits he never would have survived the past four months without the financial help of his mother because he had no access to state or federal unemployment benefits.

Navarro had been fighting to get access to thousands of dollars in state and federal benefits since November 2020.

Gov. Ron DeSantis will make an announcement in Polk County.

Victoria Thomas is the first to admit she was driving on a suspended driver license in 2018 but she cannot explain why that event prompted the Department of Economic Opportunity to suspend her state unemployment benefits.

A single mom facing divorce and mounting bills is in the middle of six-month stalemate with the Department of Economic Opportunity to receive $6,700 in back unemployment benefits. Jada Jordan, a physical therapist assistant, told News 6 she lost her job in July 2020 but was deemed ineligible for unemployment benefits until October 2020 because her salary did not meet the minimum earned in the previous quarter. “I have not gotten one payment,” a frustrated Jordan said. Even though her DEO account status shows it is active-eligible, Jordan has never received the benefits to which she is entitled. News 6 presented Jordan’s unemployment documents to the DEO office in Tallahassee this week.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s unemployment website Connect will be unavailable Friday to process claims, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity. The DEO announced Thursday afternoon the reemployment assistance customer service center and the Connect portal would be down for all of Friday, March 26. The website will be down as the DEO works to process pandemic unemployment assistance benefits made available through the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill. It is the first time that weekly applications for jobless aid have fallen below 700,000 since mid-March of last year. Since last March, the Florida DEO has processed more than 5 million claims seeking unemployment benefits and paid out more than $24 billion to claimants, much of that from federal funding.

The state Department of Economic Opportunity reported Monday that Florida’s unemployment rate decreased to 4.8 percent in January, down 0.3 percentage points from a revised December rate. AdFlorida initially reported its December unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, but that number was subsequently revised to 5.1 percent. “But towards the end of the year and continuing in January, we’ve seen people coming back into the labor force. The Jacksonville metropolitan area was at 4.4 percent, and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area was at 4.6 percent. The statewide 4.8 percent unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, while the local rates are not.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Cyber thieves are using 3D masks in their latest attempt to access billions in state and federal unemployment benefits. Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me, an identity verification company, told News 6 the masks are being used in roughly 2% of the new jobless applications across the country. “In our system, you actually have to have a phone that ties you to your identity in your records,” Hall said. “On that control alone we are stopping 20% of fraud.”Hall said the thieves are using innovative techniques to crack state unemployment systems because the financial return is so lucrative. Ron DeSantis acknowledged the cyber-attacks targeting the state’s unemployment system calling them relentless, adding the current Connect system needs to be fixed.

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. “We could not find evidence where DEO (the Department of Economic Opportunity) enforced this contract requirement. "We finished work on the CONNECT project nearly six years ago after the state accepted the system and we met all of our obligations. We have not worked on CONNECT since May 2015, at which time the system was performing well above the agreed-upon standard for system availability and far exceeding the performance of the system it replaced. The drastic spike in COVID-related jobless claims overwhelmed many states’ unemployment systems, taxing even those that had the latest technological updates.

Questions remained about when extended unemployment benefits from a newly signed federal stimulus package will be available for Floridians out of work because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The state’s jobs agency had not posted a timetable about the extended benefits, and no formal announcement had been made about whether Floridians will be covered for the current week because of when the $900 billion federal package was signed. The package Trump signed is slated to provide $300 in federal benefits for each week a currently eligible claimant receives unemployment assistance. People who become unemployed early in 2021 would be able to draw the additional benefits through April 5. The federal government has been responsible for nearly $16 billion of the money, largely because Congress passed a stimulus package in the spring that boosted benefits.

click to enlarge Creative CommonsFlorida’s unemployment rate held steady in November, as businesses did not boost seasonal hiring as much as usual amid the COVID-19 pandemic.The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted a 6.4 percent jobless rate for November, equal to a revised jobless mark for October. The rate indicates 651,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in mid-November, just 7,000 fewer than a month earlier.The October mark had initially been estimated at 6.5 percent before being revised. “But we're already seeing things coming back to a large extent, too.”The state has regained nearly 60 percent of the 1.18 million jobs lost between February and April as the pandemic took hold. Our labor force is growing,” Johnston said. Ocala has added 1,900 jobs, while Sebring is up 200.

click to enlarge Screenshot via Google MapsEmployees of Florida’s jobs agency who have been working at home will soon have to be back in the office, but there is no word on when other departments will follow suit or when state buildings will fully reopen to the public.A week after Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted COVID-19 business restrictions, Department of Economic Opportunity employees who have been able to work remotely during the pandemic have been told they will need to transition back into the office, starting Monday.Louise Mondragon, chief of human resource management for the department, outlined in a memo Thursday the return to “full-time office hours.”Employees who are in what is known as the senior management service class are expected to return Monday, with other employees shifting back to the office on Oct. "Employees should discuss their individual circumstances with their direct supervisors," Mondragon said in the memo.The department, whose numerous duties include overseeing the unemployment system, is an executive agency under the governor’s office.Fred Piccolo, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis, said such directions about bringing workers back to offices are up to individual agencies, when asked about plans to reopen state government buildings.“There is no directive coming from the governor’s office, but each agency is making plans to return to work based on the movement to Phase III,” Piccolo said in an email. “It will be revisited again at that time.”Also, no immediate changes have been announced for people working at home for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which is under Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat.“Our department has received no guidance on office reopenings, and our employees and offices will continue to follow our cautious, science-based plan for reopening as local conditions allow,” Franco Ripple, a spokesman for Fried, said in an email.Similarly, no changes are planned in the Attorney General’s Office, where spokeswoman Lauren Cassedy noted that on a volunteer basis 25 percent of employees currently can work in the office.“We will not be reopening any offices to the public until (the Department of Management Services) indicates that state buildings are reopening to the public,” Cassedy said in an email.Representatives of the Department of Management Services, which oversees state buildings, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Friday.

In another major sign of how Covid-19 has damaged Florida’s tourism industry, about 6,700 layoffs are expected to hit non-union workers at Walt Disney World starting Dec. 4. On Tuesday, Disney Parks Chairman of Experiences and Products Josh D’Amaro advised employees of the pending layoffs. “We’ve had Disney parks open since July. He later encouraged the parks to increase their daily attendance after a summer surge in Covid-19 cases started to slow. Still, by the start of September, Disney and Universal scaled back operating hours due to low attendance.

Any system was going to have some problems, but if we had anything other than 3 or 4 percent unemployment, this system was going to be a problem. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, added that the system has been treated with total ineptitude.People are desperate, Berman said. They are angry, and this is not OK. We thought that the governor would give us some answers. The problems that we're having to talk to the engineers (about) are beyond what was in that. But I don't know that that is the reason why we're dealing with the problems that we're dealing now.

click to enlarge Photo via Florida Governor's OfficeGov. Ron DeSantis said he will hold a news conference Monday to address the states much-criticized CONNECT unemployment compensation system.The system just totally broke. It's not a good system. We're going to deal with that, DeSantis said Sunday during an appearance at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.Since March 15, the state has received 1.78 million unemployment applications, of which more than 1 million are considered unique, as some people filed more than one claim. Overwhelmed by claims starting in mid-March, the Department of Economic Opportunity opened a backup online site for new claims and allowed people to fill out paper applications.

click to enlarge Photo via Adobe StockSince March 15, nearly 94 percent of Florida residents who applied for unemployment benefits have yet to receive a dime from the state.Thats according to new data released Monday by the Department of Economic Opportunity, which now has a realtime dashboard showing just how incredibly slow the the state of Florida is responding to the immense fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.The FDEO says the online dashboard is a new effort at transparency, and will be updated daily with data reflecting the number of reemployment assistance claims submitted, verified, processed, and paid.This will start with complete transparency, efficiently streamlining the re-employment assistance process, waiving all red tape and ensuring hurting Florida families have the aid they need to get through COVID-19," said Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter in a statement.As of today, the dashboard says that 1,533,733 Florida residents have submitted claims between March 15-April 19, and that the state has processed just 40,193 checks, which is just 6.2% of the total. Another astounding point worth mentioning is that according to the data, roughly one out of four residents that applied were deemed ineligible for assistance.You can see the dashboard for yourself here

This means that a large portion of the Florida economy was still operating in relatively normal circumstances in mid-March. In this regard, the March unemployment rate embodies only a limited number of the people who will ultimately be affected by the impact of coronavirus.Nationally, the March unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. I lie awake, for the couple hours that I do lie in bed at night. It is a very complicated process, but we are confident we are making progress hour by hour. The state reported increases in the categories of construction, warehousing, transportation and utilities and financial activities.

Floridas Department of Economic Opportunitys CONNECT unemployment site has been answering only 2 percent of the thousands of calls its received, with wait times averaging more than six hours. Included in Fridays numbers, DeSantis said, are 12,000 paper applications, recently introduced by the Department of Economic Opportunity. More than 6.6 million people nationwide filed for unemployment last week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. That will undoubtedly force more out-of-work Floridians onto the CONNECT system. People need help now, but theyre still waiting, said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who said most of her day is spent helping people navigate the CONNECT system.

Ron DeSantis on Tuesday to make jobless benefits retroactive as the state's newly unemployed continued to be mired in an unemployment system riddled with glitches and uncertainty amid the coronavirus outbreak. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, to extend unemployment benefits beyond the current 12-week limit and raise the $275 a week cap, among the lowest in the country. Only nine states offer fewer than 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. And they called on the governor to make benefit payments retroactive to the first day of unemployment. And amid the rampant filing troubles, it still remained unclear how quickly the state could begin issuing checks amid a backlog in claims.

The Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted the February unemployment rate, which was unchanged from January. Department Executive Director Ken Lawson said bluntly on Friday the unemployment numbers are going up. Everything we are doing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is having an impact on businesses," Lawson said. "I realize patience is thin in a situation where people are hurting, but my people, my 1,500 people, are fully committed to helping Floridians," Lawson said. However, a study released Friday indicated that one in three tourism businesses in the state had laid off employees since March 1.

click to enlargeGov. Ron DeSantis has been able to enjoy presiding over a state with record low jobless numbers. Entertainment venues from Disney and Universal to Major League Baseball spring training have shut down. I think that people already are getting a little tired with all the changes weve seen in society, and hopefully this doesnt go on for months and months. But I can just tell you, when we get on the back side of this, I think people are really going to want to get back to work.

The labor force numbered 138,383 in January, up from 136,277 in the same month in 2019. Marion Countys unemployment rate in January was 3.9%, down from 4.7% for the same month in 2019. While Januarys unemployment rate dropped year-over-year, Januarys unemployment rate rose from 3.2%, largely due to and increase in the labor force, according to DEO figures. Statewide, Floridas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.8% in January, tying the historic low and down from 3.4% in January 2019. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6% in January.

Byrds bill (HB 1265) would require all public employers to use E-Verify, but would give all private employers the option to use an I-9 form. For months, DeSantis has asked the Republican-dominated Legislature to send him a bill that would require all public and private employers to use E-Verify. The Senate bill would also require private employers to provide verification documents to federal and state authorities upon request. Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, has filed a long-shot amendment that would remove all of DEOs authority from the Senate bill. Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a co-sponsor of the Byrds E-Verify bill, told the News Service on Thursday that he also prefers the Senate plan.

The unemployment rate in Florida dropped to 3.0 percent in December, the lowest mark since the current estimating process started in 1976, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity. The unemployment rate in Florida dropped to 3.0 percent in December, the lowest mark since the current estimating process started in 1976, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity. They want to hire people, and our citizens have confidence they can find a job in the state of Florida, Lawson said. Across the state, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area had the lowest jobless rate at 2.2 percent, followed by the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin area at 2.3 percent. The highest unemployment rates were in The Villages and Homosassa Springs areas, each at 4.0 percent.

The unemployment rate in Florida dropped to 3.0 percent in December, the lowest mark since the current estimating process started in 1976, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity. The unemployment rate in Florida dropped to 3.0 percent in December, the lowest mark since the current estimating process started in 1976, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity. Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Ken Lawson pointed, in part, to policies that encourage businesses to invest in the state. "They want to hire people, and our citizens have confidence they can find a job in the state of Florida," Lawson said. Across the state, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area had the lowest jobless rate at 2.2 percent, followed by the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin area at 2.3 percent.

After Flagler County Commissioners got rid of the Department of Economic Opportunity and associated advisory board, whats the next step for economic development? "At a minimum, you need a business development function that can help make sense out of how to foster that growth." "Theres been an incredible amount of growth and I am convinced that some significant portion of it was attributable to the economic development department," he said. The decision to upend the structure of the countys economic development effort came at the urging of County Commissioner Donald OBrien, who also served as chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Council. OBrien said he doesnt think the reorganization will have any impact on the countys future economic development efforts.

click to enlarge Photo via Adobe StockDont spend it all in one place, folks.According to the states Department of Economic Opportunity minimum wage in Florida is about to jump from $8.46 to $8.56 an hour on Jan. 1. The new wages will also include a minimum wage of at least $5.54 an hour for tipped employees.Of course, all of this is absolutely meaningless for Floridas increasing population of working poor, which means despite having a job, you are unable to pay your bills, afford healthcare or other basic necessities, and are essentially just one accident away from sliding into near irreversible poverty.Sure, any pay increase is good, and the new wage is better than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, but this extra dime doesnt get anyone remotely close to an actual living wage.For some perspective, this bump means that the average minimum wage earner in Florida, who works 40 hours per week and 50 weeks per year, will now get an extra $200 before taxes. In other words, theyll earn $17,120 a year instead of $16,920.Either way, this is far below 2019s federal poverty level of $25,750 The only shred of hope in all of this is that Florida voters will be able to fix this embarrassing problem in November, as the proposal to gradually raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour will finally be on the ballot A 2017 report from United Way found that 3.3 million households across Florida, which is almost half of Floridas families, are classified as working poor.A report in June said Orlando area minimum wage earners have to work 85 hours a week to afford cheapest apartments. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced in October that full- and part-time city employees would begin receiving a $15 minimum wage, the Sentinel reported.Nearby, Tampa has made some worthy strides in this regard. Last August, Tampa mayor Jane Castor announced that all city employees will earn a starting salary of $15 an hour.Now let's just do everyone else.

The Alachua County Commission voted to ask the Citrus Levy Marion County Workforce Development Board to temporarily take on administrative services for CareerSource of North Central Florida. To prevent the disruption of CareerSource of North Central Floridas services this week, Alachua County leaders decided Tuesday to ask another workforce organization to take the reins. Alachua County commissioners voted Tuesday to ask the Citrus Levy Marion County Workforce Development Board to temporarily handle local CareerSource administrative services. The workforce board is made up of Alachua and Bradford County community leaders in the private and public sector. Avery also said that because the Alachua Bradford board contracts its work out rather than hiring its own staff, as the Citrus Levy Marion board does, it has more accountability.