ORLANDO, Fla. — Citing continued frustrations with Florida's unemployment system, Gov. DeSantis announced Wednesday that Jonathan Satter, head of the Florida Dept. of Management Services, will take over the state's COVID-19 response at the Florida Dept. of Economic Opportunity. 

"Jon's helped us a lot getting us where we needed to be on the call centers. He's also helped us get these servers were they need to be," DeSantis said. "His mission is very simple: get assistance out as quickly as you can."

Satter's agency, Florida Dept. of Management Services, handles business issues for the state ranging from purchasing to fleet maintenance. It also handles state workforce programs and benefits.

DEO Secretary Ken Lawson will remain in charge of non-COVID-19 issues at Florida DEO. 

Move Comes as Patience Wanes

For weeks Spectrum News has been sharing the stories of Central Floridians struggling to apply for benefits, running into one tech problem after another. Frustrated callers have waited hours on hold or have been unable to get through to the state’s call center altogether.

For three weeks, Kyle Perry has been starting his day at 7 a.m.

Like many, the furloughed car dealership sales agent spends an estimated 4 to 5 hours a day trying to navigate the state’s problem-plagued unemployment application system, CONNECT.

“I’d just sit there and bang my head against the computer screen trying to get it go through,” Perry said.

“I got up at 7 this morning and got right on there at 7:15 and saw eventually, after getting knocked off several times, that it had changed from pending to eligible,” Perry said. “Then I clicked to continue to move forward to claim the weeks I’m owed, and it knocked me off again.”

We’re now weeks into the crisis, and for many, the problems seem much of the same. DeSantis says he doesn't even know how many claims have been paid. 

“Their frustration and often desperation is heartbreaking,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Orlando).

Murphy’s office launched an online survey to try to get a broad view of the troubles people are having applying for benefits.

“As a federal government, who has given the state so much money for this program, we have oversight responsibility so we’re going to take that information we get from the survey and provide it as feedback to the governor and state leaders and tell them to do better on behalf of Floridians,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s office said between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor provided $1.6 billion to the State of Florida to administer its unemployment compensation program, in addition to another $60 million the state received through the CARES Act for administration efforts to handle the state level surge in applications for benefits.

“The state has a lot of catching up to do and people don’t’ have time to wait,” Murphy said. “They are really struggling, when you hear them call my office, they’re worried about putting food on the table, paying rent, and bills are piling up, and they have no idea where the income is coming from.”

State takes the heat on application system

The state itself has received widespread criticism for delays in approving applications.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recently signed three contracts worth up to $110 million to provide remote call center services.

Records released by Florida Department of Economic Opportunity showed for much of March the state received 1.1 million calls into the center, and while agents handled just 43,058 calls, nearly a million – 934,393 calls – were not even patched to the call center.

Costs for the call center contracts are beyond totals the state is spending to upgrade the website and other technology resources.

The spending also overshadows the original $66 million the state spent developing the system in 2014 under the guidance of then-Governor Rick Scott.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has long argued the trouble with the problem is squarely on the surge of applications coming in at the same time.

DeSantis said last week the state received more than 255,755 claims, including 12,000 paper applications. Applications filed since March eclipse all of last year’s application total.

“We have over 1,000 people answering phones. I’ve been told about wait times — it’s improved dramatically. We’re getting a huge number of people through the Pega website,” DeSantis said Tuesday.

On Wednesday DeSantis said the Pega site had received some 500,000 applications.

The agency recently launched a “parallel website” where new claims can be filed. This website is meant for those who have never filed for unemployment before.

DeSantis said an additionial 72 servers and allowing paper applications to be submitted, through a program with FedEx, is helping to increase the number of applications coming into the agency. Last month he also reassigned 2,000 state workers from other agencies to assist DEO.

State leaders have pleaded for patience as they outline the ways they are working to improve the system.

Tiffany Vause, Communications Director for Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, told Spectrum News on Wednesday that they have people working 24/7 on upgrading the website, processing claims, answering calls, and addressing other concerns from applicants.

“With COVID-19, we’ve had more people than ever try to access the website, so at night we are pushing people through the system,” Vause said. “This team is 100% dedicated, always talking about how to make it better.”

Vause said at times when the CONNECT website is taken down, it is done so in an effort to allow staff to process applications.

State vs. federal unemployment claims

This week DeSantis said some state and federal claims are already being paid, however for now, in separate forms.

State claims, $275 per week for 12 weeks, will be paid out by direct deposit or on debit cards. Federal benefits, $600 per week for 16 weeks, will for now, be paid out in actual checks.

Vause told Spectrum News on Wednesday that the state is issuing hard checks in an effort to speed up delivery time of benefits.

“That $600 is quicker to go by check because we have to do a rewrite in CONNECT to do that, and it’s no secret that CONNECT isn’t functioning as efficiently as we would like, so in order to make sure people are getting access to money as soon as possible we decided to cut paper checks,” Vause said.

Federal funds will be distributed by check for the foreseeable future, but at the moment only to those who would qualify for state benefits. Here’s why:

When Congress approved the $2 trillion relief package, known as CARES Act, the federal government designated a set amount of funding for unemployment benefits, but through several different programs. Each program with its own set of eligibility requirements.

Each state will distribute federal benefits, which Vause said FDEO is still trying to update their website to tailor applications for each program.

The CONNECT website is ‘down’ more often recently, Vause said, to not only allow applications to be processed quicker, but to also allow the site to be re-coded.

The site, for example, is not technically set up for applicants who are “gig economy workers,” such as Uber drivers. Self-employed and gig economy workers do not qualify for state benefits, but do qualify for benefits under one of the federal programs.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)

The PEUC program provides $600 weekly in additional federal unemployment benefits for four months to those who meet the same standards to qualify for Florida’s unemployment benefits. This includes those laid off, furloughed, or otherwise previously employed, but does not include contractors, self-employed, and ‘gig economy’ workers.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

The PUA federal program provides benefits totaling $600 weekly for four months to those who are self-employed or working in the ‘gig economy’ such as being an Uber driver. This program can also provide benefits to those who are freelancers, independent contractors, or those who lack sufficient work history, or denied state benefits.

Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)

The PEUC federal program provides benefits totaling $600 weekly for four months to those who have already exhausted the term of state benefits, including anyone who has already receiving 12 weeks of Florida unemployment benefits and no longer qualify for additional state relief.

The maximum federal benefits any one person is able to receive is $600 per week, for unemployment going back to March 29.

State leaders have not said whether benefits will be retroactive or backdated, as consideration is also being given to the fact that any state benefits received for non-worked weeks prior to March 29 would not receive federal compensation as well.