If you've recently been laid off in the state of Florida, you're certainly not alone. The unemployment rate is roughly 11.2% and is the highest it has been since June of 1975. Not only that, Florida is a full percentage point above the national average, which stands at 10.2% currently. The construction industry, which defined the growth in Florida that we were seeing in the early-to-mid 2000's, has been one of the hardest hit with unemployment.
If the unemployment rate wasn't grim enough in Florida, consider that the unemployment compensation benefits are among the lowest in the country. As of this writing, the maximum amount of compensation you can receive each week is 5. And that's BEFORE taxes are taken out! However, as little as that may seem, it is something that you can easily sign up for and start receiving fairly quickly. I recommend you take full advantage of unemployment compensation because when you WERE employed, you were paying for it for others out of your taxes.
There are only a few steps you need to take to start receiving unemployment compensation from the state of Florida. And they can all be done online.
1. You first need to go to floridajobs.org/unemployment. There you will see a link to "file a claim". Click that link.
2. That link takes you to the MyFlorida.com/FLUID website which walks you through the process of enrolling for unemployment benefits. This initial enrollment should take you less than an hour to go through, provided you have the information that they need. You most likely will be able to fill out everything that they ask for without any need to contact your former employer.
You can also elect to have taxes taken out of your compensation benefits before receiving them. This is up to you, but I strongly recommend allowing the tax to be taken out. It will make things much easier on you the next time you have to file your tax return and the state will provide you with the information you need for those taxes that were deducted.
3. Once you've enrolled, you will be given some instructions on when and how to "claim your weeks". The way unemployment compensation works in Florida is that you MUST claim/certify your weeks of unemployment every 2 weeks. So if you initially enrolled on a Monday, you would need to revisit their website 2 weeks from that Monday to claim those 2 weeks of unemployment. And you have to continue this process every 2 weeks for as long as you are receiving compensation.
The good news is that the process of claiming your weeks is incredibly quick and easy. There are basically four questions you will be asked for each week you are claiming:
a. Were you able to work during this week?
b. Were you actively looking for work?
c. Were you offered any work?
d. Did you turn down any offer for work?
You tick a radio button on the website form "yes" or "no" for each question and then move onto the next week. The whole process of claiming two weeks worth of unemployment takes less than 5 minutes!
You most likely will receive a letter in the first month of receiving compensation that says you must attend a workforce seminar in order to continue receiving benefits. You will already be scheduled for a date and time for this seminar. Make sure you attend because it will only delay your compensation if you miss the seminar. It is normally held at the closest unemployment office to your home.
If you are recently unemployed, don't wait another minute to start receiving your unemployment compensation. Every little bit helps and you don't have to feel ashamed that you're receiving benefits because you had been paying for them all along with your taxes.
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