Florida making extended jobless benefits to eligible workers

By Palm Beach Business.com

TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation said Thursday that it has begun making extended unemployment payments to state resident who have applied for and are eligible for the benefits. The agency estimates that as many 250,000 Floridians who exhaust regular unemployment benefits will be eligible for the program, which lasts through the end of the year.

“As we assist Floridians in finding new jobs, these funds provide an additional safety net to our customers and their families while also reinvigorating our state’s economy with the infusion of an estimated $418 million in federal recovery funds,” AWI Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo.

Payments will be retroactive to February 22 for those eligible. The initial retroactive payments may be as high as $5,100 for some people, with additional payments of as much as $300 a week for up to a total of 20 weeks. o date, AWI has received more than 73,000 applications for extended benefits, which may be applied for online at www.floridajobs.org.

To receive extended benefits individuals must:

— Be totally or partially unemployed;

— Not be eligible for unemployment in any other state;

— Be actively seeking work and able to document work searches for each week claimed; and not refuse an offer of suitable work;

— Exhaust all entitlement to regular and emergency unemployment compensation after February 22, or;

— Exhaust all entitlement to regular and emergency unemployment before February 22, and have established a claim benefit year that ends after February 22.

Eligible Floridians May apply online at www.floridajobs.org, which is the most efficient way to process claims. For those who do not have internet access, forms are mailed from the Agency for Workforce Innovation to Floridians identified as potentially eligible and may be filled out and returned with an enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope.

More information on the program can be found at the agency website.