Unemployment is Unattainable For Many Unemployed Workers

In 2011, as state leaders considered changes to Florida's unemployment laws, one legislator told program managers the goal was simple: Florida Employment Lawyer

"We'd like your department," said state Sen. Nancy Detert, "to, you know, get rid of slackers and malingerers."

The approved revisions appear to have done much more than that.

Unemployment-claim denials have soared since the new law took effect, even as the number of claims has fallen. Since the third quarter of 2011, when the measure was implemented, denials have jumped by more than 140 percent, according to federal labor data.

In a 15-month period ending in September, the state rejected 279,000 claims — more than twice the number it denied in the 15 months before the changes became law. Florida Employment Lawyer

The average number of rejections rose to almost 56,000 per quarter, up from about 23,000. Total rejections during the past 15 months is more than all the denials issued in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The denials have piled up even as total claims fell. Average weekly claims from first-time filers have dropped almost 34 percent during the past two years. Continuing claims shrank by 43 percent.

The data reflect denials issued under the state unemployment program, which provides the first 23 weeks of benefits to laid-off Floridians. It includes claims rejected on largely procedural grounds, not those denied because a worker quit or was dismissed for misconduct.

Also included are claims denied because a laid-off worker was receiving severance pay. Under the new law, claimants cannot simultaneously receive severance and unemployment.

Denials related to severance have grown significantly, but they represent a relatively small portion of the overall increase: about 12 percent.

Florida has long had one of the least-generous unemployment programs in the nation. Its maximum benefit is $275 a week, a figure that hasn't changed in more than a decade. Its average benefit is $231 a week, the 48th-lowest in the U.S. Florida Employment Lawyer

In the 2011 legislation session, Gov. Rick Scott and Republican leaders portrayed the changes as a way to reduce costs and push people toward work.

A spokesman with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, which administers the program, said that, although more claims have been denied, it does not mean the people filing those claims were disqualified from receiving benefits. Florida Employment Lawyer

The money becomes available, said DEO's James Miller, "as soon as the claimant complies with the eligibility condition." Florida Employment Lawyer

"These determinations," Miller said in an email, "seldom result in individuals' inability to receive any payments on their claim."

But worker advocates say the requirements delay and sometimes block people from getting benefits they have earned.

Claimants may no longer file by phone and must complete a 45-question online skills assessment before receiving payments and enter detailed evidence of their work-search activities in the state's online system.


Though each requirement sounds benign, workers say the state's instructions are unclear and the online filing system is temperamental. With little phone help available, many claimants find themselves lost if they encounter a problem or make a mistake.

"This has been a nightmare," said Arthur Rosenberg, an attorney with Florida Legal Services in Miami. "Basically, a maze of obstacles has been put in place."

Former Orlando resident James Taylor was trapped in that maze for several months after being laid off last year. From the outset, he said, the state's system would not allow him to file claims online. When he called DEO, customer-service reps walked him through procedures he was already following.

But they would not let him to file by phone.

"They kept saying they had to have it online," said Taylor, the former executive director of an educational-supply company in Orlando. "I couldn't get anywhere with them."

Taylor, 49, kept trying, taking screen shots of his computer as evidence of his attempts. Weeks passed, and he was still unable to file.

Eventually, Legal Services of North Florida helped Taylor receive more than $2,000, but his lawyer said it never should have come to that.

"This was a no-brainer," said attorney Scott Banion. "He'd done everything correctly."

Laid-off workers and their advocates say computer glitches are not uncommon and, once they occur, can lock claimants out of the system. That can delay their filing and complicate matters later on.

"It's kind of a Catch-22," said George Wentworth, a senior attorney with the National Employment Law Project.

In May, Wentworth's group and Florida Legal Services asked federal labor officials to review the 2011 law. That process is ongoing.

Wentworth said the flood of procedural-based denials suggests Florida lawmakers intended to disqualify as many people as possible.

"When you have these kinds of numbers, it's clear," he said. "This is a deliberate effort to disenfranchise laid-off workers."