Schumer calls for inquiry into Florida’s unemployment system

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Senate Democrat, called on the Department of Labor to investigate Florida’s glitch-ridden unemployment system, asserting on Monday that the state mismanaged claims and failed to deliver timely benefits after massive job losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to the department’s inspector general, Schumer joined the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, in requesting an inquiry into the Department of Labor’s oversight of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, which administers the application portal for jobless benefits.

“While all states have seen record increases in the number of its residents applying for unemployment, the state of Florida’s performance has proved uniquely poor in its abject inability to assist millions of Florida residents who have applied for and continue to await unemployment benefits,” their letter said.

The Democratic senators assert that the state has only paid 28% of the 2 million Floridians applying for benefits since March 15 – but that assertion appeared to rely on month-old data.

According to current statistics from Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, more than half of unemployment claims have been paid.

The department contends that more than 90 percent of 1.3 million eligible claimants it has processed have been paid. But the state’s calculation does not include nearly 500,000 people deemed ineligible, as well as hundreds of thousands more that are apparently still waiting for their claims to be processed.

What is not in dispute is that the spike in joblessness after Gov. Ron DeSantis closed bars and nightclubs, drastically restricted restaurant operations and put in place stay-at-home social distancing policies to help contain the virus.

The governor’s spokesperson, Helen Ferre, dismissed Schumer’s call for an investigation as “partisan politics.” Ferre noted that the governor has called one of his own inspectors general to conduct an investigation into the online portal known as CONNECT.

“More than $4.6 billion has been paid to close to 1.3 million Florida residents,” Ferre said, “and under Governor DeSantis’ direction, more will be done to ensure that all who are owed unemployment benefits receive them.”

The senators questioned the slow place in which unemployment funds have been paid out to the state’s newly unemployed, including money disbursed through the federal economic rescue package. Meanwhile, the senators noted that Florida is the only state whose unemployment trust fund gained money in that period.

WINK News reached out to state officials for comment.

We received a response from Helen Aguirre Ferre, the director of communications for Gov. DeSantis:

“It is interesting to note that neither Florida senator is asking for an investigation, and it should come to no surprise that this is Sen. Schumer practicing partisan politics in Washington D.C.,” Ferre shared in a statement to WINK News. “The Inspector General has not completed the investigation that Governor DeSantis requested regarding the procurement and funding of the CONNECT system used by the Department of Economic Opportunity. More than $4.6 billion has been paid to close to 1.3 million Florida residents and under Governor DeSantis’ direction, more will be done to ensure that all who are owed unemployment benefits receive them.”

We also received a response from Tiffany Vause, director of communications & external Affairs for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity:

“Sen. Schumer and Sen. Wyden unfortunately have their facts wrong,” Vause shared in a statement to WINK News. “And we would urge you to review the Reemployment Assistance Claims Dashboard. As of June 7, DEO has processed 2,015,205 claims which is 92.5% of confirmed unique claims. As of June 7, DEO has paid eligible claimants a total of $4.6 billion ($4,618,940,050). Serving Floridians during this unprecedented economic and public health crisis continues to be the number priority of DEO.”

MORE: Department of Labor Inspector General Letter

DeSantis has acknowledged that his state’s unemployment system is broken and ordered his own investigators to look into the system’s failures.

DeSantis has begun reopening much of Florida’s economy, allowing some Floridians to return to work even as the state continues to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

As of Monday, the state has recorded nearly 65,000 coronavirus infections, with more than 2,700 Floridians having died from the virus.

The Democratic senators said problems with Florida’s CONNECT system predated the pandemic, which caused the state’s unemployment rate to spiked to 12.9% in April, up from 4.3% the month before.

State audits had found repeated failures in the system, which the governor has acknowledged was not designed to be able to handle the surge in claims.