Payments held or missing, unemployment system continues to frustrate people in SWFL

Unemployment continues to frustrate countless people in Southwest Florida.

While the state’s dashboard says 97% of claimants have been paid their benefits, you say that number is misleading. Paid doesn’t mean paid in full.

Thursday, some of you say payments have stopped altogether.

If you’re even remotely familiar with the current unemployment system, this will sound like a broken record.

“He said that there’s nothing that they can do,” Kevin Shafer of Port Charlotte said.

And this may sound like nails on a chalkboard.

“I’m glad that people are getting checks. Obviously they’re continuing to process,” Gov. DeSantis said in a press conference in Orlando Wednesday.

Shafter says he was already missing three weeks of payments plus his waiting week and now, he says his claim is on “hold” for a problem no one can solve.

“He said that the system is flagging some claimants for some reason,” he said. “It’s a glitch in the system that should automatically fix itself. When I asked him how long it should take, he told me it would be two to six weeks. He wasn’t sure, but until that time you wouldn’t receive any payment.”

Shafer says a call center employee told him it’s because he didn’t search for work, even though the governor says until June 13, you don’t have to look for a job in order to get paid.

Shortly after this story aired, a representative from DEO called WINK News to say they looked into Shafer’s claim and the work search requirement is not the issue. For privacy, they said they couldn’t tell us what the issue actually is.

“If expenses continue on the way they have for me in the last a couple weeks, I have like a month left of savings,” he said.

On top of all of this, dozens of you have reached out saying the weekly $600 unemployment benefits from the CARES Act have suddenly stopped coming in.

The DEO says payments are supposed to go out every other week, but some of you haven’t seen payments in two or more.

Your stories, your fear, your frustration — standing in stark contrast to what the governor keeps repeating: “I’m glad that people are getting checks.”

Since this all started, WINK News Investigative Reporter Sara Girard has sent the DEO more than 9,400 of your names and concerns for them to look into. After more than two months, she’s still pushing for answers.

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For ongoing updates and information on unemployment, follow WINK News Investigative Reporter Sara Girard on Twitter and Facebook.

She also updates the WINK News FAQ: Unemployment Resources page as information is received.