Florida is still a nightmare as far as trying to get unemployment if you are self-employed or a gig worker. Forget  about getting any help from the unemployment office or speaking to a live human,

The most common unemployment issue right now is people still pending and waiting to get paid, and missing FPUC (Federal-$600), along with needing to backdate claims to receive past money owed to them.   The DEO is fully aware of this.

Another issue is people are seeing the PUA link (State Disaster) where they should be seeing the PEUC because their state UC has been exhausted.

What do all these letters mean you ask?  Here’s a breakdown.  PUA is for self-employed and 1099s who would otherwise receive no state benefits.  Instead of automatically converting the regular application to this like DEO first said they would for self-employed, you have to wait till the monetary determination decides to deny you and determine ineligibility for regular unemployment benefits.  Once they do this in the list of areas on the left side halfway down a link will appear to apply for the PUA. Fill it out. It will put in the date of the determination, not the date you started applying for unemployment.   You will receive somewhere between $125-$275  a week. Commencing 6/1/2020 you will need to login every week and submit 5 jobs you applied for or information about your career source contact.

FPUC is the Federal disaster relief program this is the $600 everyone is talking about. There doesn’t seem to be a link for most people to apply.  Also it will use the date of the PUA which is likely wrong.  So you need to fill out UC Modification Form – https://claimdate.myflorida.com/login

Representative Ann V. Eskamani ( [email protected]  ) has been hard at work posting information on Facebook regarding DEO and Unemployment Compensation.   She seems to be the only government official who cares.  Contact her staff regarding your issues at [email protected] .   You can find the escalation letter at https://forms.gle/F4NHDxuu9ADqk8847

You might also find some useful information at  http://www.floridajobs.org/docs 

Good Luck!!!!

Carol A. Lawson, Esq., 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761

Phone: (727) 410-2705;   email: [email protected]

 Clearwater Bankruptcy Attorney, Clearwater Bankruptcy Lawyer, Clearwater Bankruptcy, Clearwater Estate Planning Attorney,  Pinellas Estate Planning Attorney, Pinellas Probate Attorney #FileLocallyDontOverpay #ClearwaterBankruptcy #ClearwaterBankruptcyAttorney#ClearwaterEstatePlanningAttorney                           #Pinellas ProbateAttorney