JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many unemployed Floridians whose claims were listed as 'expired' Monday are finding weeks they have claimed were put on hold.
This follows Monday’s chaos, which seems to be a result of benefits temporarily expiring on Saturday before President Trump signed the COVID Relief Bill.
RELATED: Unemployment Maze: Many claims suddenly listed as 'expired' or 'ineligible' in CONNECT system
The Department of Economic Opportunity said it is awaiting guidance from the Department of Labor of how to implement extending federal programs.
On Monday, many Floridians who utilized federal benefits found their claims to be out of whack.
Some claims were listed as expired, others were diverted to different unemployment programs for which the claimant did not qualify.
Many claimants whose claims were listed as expired were still prompted to claim previous weeks.
Many who claimed those weeks are finding those weeks on hold.
“There are hundreds of comments of people saying, ‘That happened to me. That happened to me,’” said unemployment expert Vanessa Brito.
Brito said people may find it difficult to get rid of the holds. t
“We did not see this glitch before," Brito explained. "This is something completely new.”
Mary Canton is one of many who claimed weeks Monday and woke up to a hold on payments.
“DEO let us down once again, obviously,” Canton said. “This was my first time being on hold at all. I was very shocked.”
Regardless if a claim is listed as expired, people should be able to claim their available weeks, since they were a part of an active claim.
“It just sucks because my kids and I," Canton said. "We eat off of that."
FCN brought this to DEO’s attention Tuesday. They said they would look into it further.
In the meantime, hundreds having this problem gave FCN their claimant information to relay to DEO.
In the last few days, thousands of people are encountering new, mysterious issues with their claims. On Your Sides’ Josslyn Howard will be covering this in a live Q&A session Tuesday night in FCN’s Facebook group, Navigating Florida’s Unemployment Maze at 6 pm. The livestream will be available to review.