John Kennedy Gannett Capital Bureau Apr 11, 2020 at 9:49 AM According to contracts signed with three call center companies, the state has been answering only 2 percent of the thousands of calls it’s received, with wait times averaging more than six hours. This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to theledger.com at theledger.com/subscribenow. TALLAHASSEE — With the shock of the coronavirus shutdowns rattling daily across the economy, Florida was in an unusual spot last week, being among 17 states where unemployment claims actually declined. But few see that as good news. “I think it is a reflection that the state’s online filing system has had so many problems that people are now turning to paper applications that haven’t been counted yet. The numbers just haven’t caught up,” said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. Indeed, according to contracts the state’s Department of Employment Opportunity recently signed with three call center companies, the agency has been answering only 2 percent of the thousands of calls it’s received, with wait times averaging more than six hours. For the week ending April 4, Florida received 169,831 applications for state benefits, capped at $275-per-week, among the lowest in the nation. That was down from the week ending March 28, when 226,999 applications flowed into the Department of Economic Opportunity right after DeSantis signed an executive order suspending on-premise food and alcohol consumption in restaurants — eliminating thousands of Florida jobs. But Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said claims shot up again this week, with 225,755 new applications filed. Included in Friday’s numbers, DeSantis said, are 12,000 paper applications, recently introduced by DEO. There also is a new mobile application made […]
