Errors, inconsistencies are marring unemployment payments

I am glad the Miami Herald has reported consistently on the shortcomings of unemployment insurance in Florida as a result of COVID-19. But as the system has finally begun paying claimants in larger numbers, it is doing so in an inconsistent and sporadic manner, leaving many unemployed Floridians with no recourse to follow up on missing state and federal aid.

I was laid off from my position as a chef of a Miami Beach restaurant and advised my staff and colleagues to apply for unemployment as soon as they could. To this day, only some have received unemployment insurance payments. Of those who have, some have received the federal supplement of $600, some have not, even though all applied the last week of March. In some cases, the federal supplement has been paid but not the state benefit. This doesn’t make any sense. The state seems to be processing applications hastily and sending money sporadically to claimants and botching our applications because the system is overwhelmed.

I was fortunate to receive a payment last week for three weeks of unemployment, but have only received two weeks of the federal supplement. Most of my colleagues who received aid have received a portion of the state insurance and/or a portion of the federal supplement, but no one has gotten the expected amount stipulated by the state system and the Cares Act. None of the line cooks who worked under me, the ones who need it most, have received aid.

If the federal supplement is not being paid out properly, where is it going?

While Gov. DeSantis claims his team has done everything possible to shore up the system, they continue to make costly mistakes, frustrating citizens who are incrementally approaching financial desperation, if they are not there already.

This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Errors, inconsistencies are marring unemployment payments."