Many unemployed Floridians prompted to submit proof of prior employment to continue to receive benefits

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many unemployed Floridians are seeing a new message on their CONNECT portal asking for additional documentation  to prove their prior employment.

Many people who have submitted these documents in the past may think this is just another glitch in the system, but if you don’t follow the instructions, there may be severe consequences.

“This is something every state is going to have to require all of their PUA claimants to do,” said unemployment expert Vanessa Brito.

Submitting proof of prior employment is a new requirement from the US Department of Labor. Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity is responsible for collecting and processing proof of prior employment to report back to the DOL.

This is a way for the government to weed out fraud that has been associated with the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

“This verifies that they were employed prior to the pandemic and that they lost their job during the pandemic due to COVID-19,” Brito said.

This is the message PUA claimants should be seeing on their dashboard that will lead them through the process.

Acceptable documentation for proof of employment includes:

• Paycheck stubs
• Earnings and leave statements showing the employer’s name and address
• W-2 tax forms

Acceptable documentation for proof of self-employment includes:

• State or Federal employer identification numbers
• Business licenses;
• Tax returns;
• Business receipts; or
• Signed affidavits from persons verifying your self-employment.

Many unemployed Floridians have had trouble in the past submitting similar documents for wage redeterminations, and are worried if the system can handle thousands of Floridians submitting these documents in a short timeframe.

Some people are reporting they’re uploading their documents, but they’re disappearing. However, Brito said there is a certain way this should be handled.

“Definitely don’t start faxing and emailing your documents anywhere," Brito explained. "This is a federal requirement so they have to be collected in a certain manner, so just wait until we hear form deo if there’s an alternate way of submission.”