JACKSONVILLE, Fla — If you thought getting in contact with the Department of Economic Opportunity couldn’t get any harder, think again.
DEO has just cut contracts with two companies that provided nearly 1,000 call center workers, who will now have to attempt to apply for unemployment themselves.
According to DEO, it has cut contracts with AECOM and United Data Technologies, which were contracted for about $30 million combined in April.
A statement from DEO said, “Vendors who are not providing as high-quality services will not continue to provide services at this time.”
A supervisor who has been laid off due to AECOM’s cut contract said her team would meet with DEO weekly. She says DEO told them they were doing good work.
“They told us they were performing well and this separation had nothing to do with our performance levels,” the supervisor said.
She says she wishes DEO would have provided them with feedback instead of just taking away their jobs.
“I think it is counter-effective for the DEO to say they want to do better by their claimants,” the supervisor said. “Why not invest better in the contractors you have?”
A laid-off call center worker, who would like to remain anonymous, says she was hired just three days ago, and she started taking calls her first day on the job.
“I wasn’t completely ready for the job,” she said. “Unless you were like a super genius, you wouldn’t really understand what was going on.”
Another laid-off call center worker said she had to learn the ropes on her own.
“For the information on the calls, I had to learn most of it myself,” she said.
DEO posted a hiring ad Sunday.
Now, those who tried to help guide the unemployed will be struggling themselves.
“I just rented an apartment to move and I don’t have the income I was expecting,” the call center worker said.
An email sent to employees states their last day of work will be July 21.
