TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — There now are more than 1,000 people answering the phones to help assist Florida residents through the unemployment process, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, though the website leaves more to be desired.
The crush of people filing through the Department of Economic Opportunity's neglected online system has created a backlog of applications that have yet to be processed.
DeSantis offered a few advancements during a news conference Tuesday: Wait times on the phones have "improved dramatically," and the first batch of federal checks have gone out today.
The state offers a maximum weekly benefit of $275 per week for up to 12 weeks, while the $2 trillion "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,'' or "CARES Act," provides an additional $600 each week.
Florida's assistance can come in either a debit card or direct deposit, while DeSantis said the extra $600 from the federal government will come in the mail as a physical check.
The state in recent weeks has added more servers and a mobile-friendly site to help people get through the process, though errors and delays still are being reported.
WKMG-TV reports the state has signed contracts totaling $119 million in an attempt to deal with the number of people seeking unemployment benefits. The Department of Economic Opportunity has been able to answer about 2 percent of all phone calls with an average wait time of 400 minutes or a little under seven hours.
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