By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s overwhelmed online unemployment-compensation system has been taken down for the weekend as the state scrambles to process applications and reduce a massive backlog of claims caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Users of the Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT system, who continue to express frustration with accessing the website and reaching phone operators, were redirected Friday to a backup site where they can submit new applications.
Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter, who was brought in last week to oversee the system, said Friday the state will put its manpower this weekend into getting more applications processed.
“We needed all the processing power we could get, to process payments,” Satter said. “We have a number of large batch jobs that were ready. Rather than place a lot of drain on the system today and over the weekend, we said, ‘Let’s take it down. Let’s process as many payments as we can.’”
Disney officials have been working with the state to download a massive list of furloughed employees as the entertainment giant stopped paying more than 100,000 workers on Monday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the state is open to working with other employers that have large numbers of workers facing temporary unemployment so information could be downloaded at off-peak times.
Visitors to CONNECT, which cost $77 million to get online in 2013, received a message Friday saying the site will be available at 8 a.m. Monday.
Satter said wait times have improved, but he expects there could be a crush when the system returns on Monday.
“Quite frankly, the more checks we issue, the less questions we’ll have,” Satter said.
As of Friday morning, the state had made unemployment payments of up to $275 a week to 153,788 people, or 21.9 percent of the applicants.
When the week started, just 6 percent of applications had resulted in payments.
The website must also be used by people who might not qualify for state relief but are eligible for $600 weekly checks as part of federal stimulus efforts.
The state advised the U.S. Department of Labor that it received 505,137 new applications last week and as of Friday had received 1.8 million claims since March 15, of which 701,740 had been confirmed as “unique.” In some cases, people filed more than one claim as they struggled with the state system.
Satter said the system this weekend will also undergo some “software retooling to make things a lot more efficient.”
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77 million dollars for that software….. OMG, as a former microsoft product developer (btw MS is a chinese-indian company now, no HR in USA) i can absolutely say Florida got ripped off. Better software could have been coded by Americans for under $300,000 in less than 3 months. Who in the hell made that deal to scew Floridia citizens with such a software- processing mess. Hey GOV, try hiring continious improvement consultants who code!!!
I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO CLAIM MY WEEKS SINCE EARLY MARCH BUT NOW CLAIMED WEEKS ARE NOT GETTING PAID??? CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN THE FEDERAL EXTRA 13 WKS IS SUPPOSE TO KICK IN. THIS SITE CANT HANDLE NORMAL TIMES MUCH LESS NOW. SCOTT SHOULD BE IMPEACHED OVER THIS MESS AS ITS HIS DOING THAT LED TO IT. HE LINED HIS POCKETS ON THE BACKS OF RETIREES AND THE ELDERLY. I SAY IMPEACH SCOTT!!!!
It’s worth pointing out that Florida has a small (per capita) but efficient state government which keeps taxes relatively low, and I’ll readily admit I’m a fan of this small government. The consequence of this, though, is when trying to utilize high-volume, high-need systems, especially suddenly like the unemployment system, the ability to provide timely responses diminishes. Long hold times for calls and limited ability to handle a sudden capacity increase are simply expected outcomes of limited state govt. As such, I’m not blaming the various state offices, because the only solution is to over-staff for these “just in case” scenarios, which becomes progressively more expensive the more “just in case” people you want to hire.
Facts:
Not one of the thousands and thousands of local, state, or federal politicians responsible for the destruction of our economy and millions of lives has missed a paycheck, or a rent payment, or a haircut, or a meal over this.
Not one of the thousands and thousands of local, state, or federal political aides complicit in the destruction of our economy and millions of lives has missed a paycheck, or a rent payment, or a haircut, or a meal over this.
Not one of the thousands of lying media PAC tools responsible for the manufactured hysteria that has led to the destruction of our economy and millions of lives has missed a paycheck, or a rent payment, or a haircut, or a meal over this.
Not one millions of government bureaucrats, scientists, lackeys, or lobbyists benefiting from the destruction of our economy and millions of lives has missed a paycheck, or a rent payment, or a haircut, or a meal over this.
Not one person demanding that we give up our rights, freedoms, liberties, and livelihoods… has missed a paycheck, or a rent payment, or a haircut, or a meal over this.
… let that sink in a bit
Good post Edward.
I just wonder if all 50 states are having much the same problems with their unemployment agency’s delivering poor service to their bosses which are their citizens.
Or is this problem unique to Florida?
Maybe Tallahassee Reports can give us some information on if Florida stands alone with a wack unemployment delivery system.
Or is Florida just one of 50 states with pretty much the same wack unemployment problems.
Snidely asking the questions that matter.
I couldn’t agree more, Edward. Govt is the enemy.
This may be the worst thing they’ve ever done, and that’s saying something.
Hope people learn to stop depending on govt after this and have an emergency fund. Pay off debt.
If you really want to know what is going on with the CV everyone should watch this video from two California doctors.
I am sure it will be deleted. Watch it and have an open mind before you delete it. If it long but gives you insight that you will not get from anywhere else.
https://youtu.be/xfLVxx_lBLU
Excellent video.
Although I was waiting for the doc on the right to say, “Book him, Dano.”