Unemployed Floridians must now claim weeks online to receive payments

ORLANDO, Fla. — A step for claiming unemployment benefits that was temporarily waived by Governor Ron DeSantis is now required again for Floridians seeking payments.

Anyone trying to claim benefits will not receive them unless they request them every two weeks.  Some people refer to this process as “claiming weeks” or “certifying weeks.”

(Tweet)

This is done through the state’s CONNECT unemployment website.

“The traditional way unemployment is crafted is folks should be able to tap in and tap out of the system whenever they need to,” said State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D).  “In the case of COVID-19, you might have some folks who are going to work a few hours on one week. And so that one week they might no longer be eligible for benefits, but the other week they would be.”

When Gov. DeSantis waived the weeks certification, Eskamani said there were people who were going back to work and were unable to communicate with the Department of Economic Opportunity to tell them they were not eligible for benefits for that week.

“They could maybe later have to pay that back,” she said.

People who are working certain weeks can now report that and save their unemployment eligibility for weeks they need it.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity requires people to claim their weeks before they’re eligible to receive federal benefits.

CLICK HERE to read a guide from the DEO on how to apply for benefits.

Listen to Eskamani explain the weeks certification process as well as describe the THREE federal benefit programs in detail:

(App users tap here to listen)