JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thousands of frustrated Floridians were duped again by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The department had said it was going to be able to address applicants grievances with unemployment claims over the phone begining Monday at 7:30 a.m..
In an announcement, the department gave the phone number 1-833-353-6799 to be contacted. If you call the number, you’ll hear the following recording,
Governor Ron DeSantis announced he plans to make big announcements soon that involve the state’s overwhelmed unemployment system, and the eventual reopening of the state’s economy.
The Governor is holding a news conference at 11 a.m. in Tampa. New4Jax will bring it to you live online and on Channel 4.
Friday, frustrations reached an all-time high when a message appeared on the state’s unemployment website showing the website would be down until Monday morning.
Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged the ongoing problems.
“This thing was a clunker, there’s no doubt about it," DeSantis told reporters. "With this volume, it was going to be a problem no matter how good the system was, but I do think the way this thing was designed was very problematic.'”
Since March 15, Florida has received claims from more than 700,000 people, a surge that overwhelmed the Department of Economic Opportunity’s website. As of Thursday, fewer than one in three claims had been processed and only about one of every five people submitting a claim had received a payment, according to the department.
An all-new website was launched for first-time claimants to the system, hoping to alleviate the strain on the original website, but it seemed Floridians reached just as many errors and glitches as prior.
The state has an unemployment dashboard, that is supposed to be updated with the latest numbers, though this web page too, has gone on and offline before.