For weeks, it’s been widely publicized as a giant pain to use, but now Florida’s unemployment claims website is officially inoperable.
The website says that it’s currently processing payment, so it won’t be available again until 8 a.m. on Monday.
There have already been a total of 1,818,594 unemployment claims since March 15, according to Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity. But, only 153,788 claimants have been paid. That’s roughly 22%.
This isn’t anything new, the Associated Press recently reported that Florida was literally the slowest state in the country at processing unemployment claims.
And, since claimants aren’t able to be paid until the state officially receives the claim, some are worried about the weeks of benefits they’re missing. However, WTSP reported that the Department of Economic Opportunity said it will make retroactive payments.
“Why is Florida in particular having such a difficult time now processing so many claims? It’s because it never intended to process so many,” Susan Houseman, the director of research for the Michigan-based Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, told AP. “In fact, it was scaling back in recent years. So Florida is even less prepared to handle the onslaught than other states.”
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