The Florida state government faces a class action lawsuit for “negligence” due to the system’s failure to process the unemployment payments of thousands of people who have lost their jobs due to the covid-19 pandemic.
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The complaint of several frustrated unemployed people was filed in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, against the state Department of Economic Opportunities (DEO) and the consultancy Deloitte, which launched the platform. The system, which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis himself has called a “mockery,” less than half of the requests (48%) have been processed until this week.
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“With the appearance of the coronavirus / covid-19, hundreds of thousands of workers in the state of Florida became displaced / unemployed with the massive closure of companies,” says the lawsuit, which seeks financial compensation. Workers began to use the state unemployment system, but “the system is a colossal failure”he adds.
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The impact of COVID-19 has left 30% of Floridians without jobs or with job cuts and contracts, according to a survey released this Thursday by the New Florida Majority Political Organization (NewFM) among more than 25,000 people, half of them Hispanic.
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Lawyers in Tallahassee, Leon County, North Florida, filed the lawsuit on behalf of several Floridians whose unemployment approvals are still pending or were “wrongly” rejected.
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Congresswoman Val Demings urged the governor to “explain why 40% of Florida’s unemployment insurance claims have been rejected and why so many Floridians have been unable to access the federal expansion we approved a month ago.”
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