FLORIDA, USA — Some unemployed Floridians are fighting to regain their unemployment benefits after returning to work and losing their job weeks later.
Multiple claimants are finding a “return to work” hold placed on their account, preventing them from claiming benefits.
“The employer will report to the Department of Revenue and then that cross matches with the DEO,” said unemployment expert Vanessa Brito. “It’s an automatic eight-week hold with DEO if you return to work,”
Brito says often this hold is not a glitch, but an obstacle.
If you do lose your job once again, you may be in a battle to prove you are unemployed.
To try and remove that hold, DEO has released a return to work questionnaire to determine if someone has returned to work and if they are eligible for future benefits.
Brito has also made a form of her own for claimants to fill out that she submits to the department. She submits them periodically, so stay tuned to her Facebook page for the next form she’ll submit.
She says using both resources have been effective.
“I’ve seen a change for people who have been on hold for a long time within a week, which is great,” Brito said. “That hold falls off.”
Going back to work in July cost the mother of three, Ashley Hawthorne about 14 weeks worth of unemployment benefits after the return to work hold has been placed on her account, preventing her from claiming unemployment benefits.
By next week, I won’t have my apartment and my car might be repossessed next week as well,” Hawthorne said. “It’s not fair. You do the right thing and then you’re on hold. It’s not fair.”
Hawthorne has taken both steps and prays she can receive the $3,800 owed to her before it is too late.
“Unemployment has to do better,” Hawthorne said. “Don’t just keep telling like ‘wait, wait, wait wait,’ when it’s real-life situations out here.”