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Ten Florida residents have filed a class action lawsuit against Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity alleging that the state has deprived them of real and personal rights by prematurely cutting off federal unemployment benefits.
In May, DeSantis announced the state would end the $300 a week extended federal unemployment benefits program, saying that the program incentivized people not to work.
However, the Florida unemployment class action lawsuit says that rather than getting people back to work, ending the benefits before they are set to expire in September left un- and under-employed Floridians unable to cover basic living expenses, such as housing, utilities, food, health care, and child care.
The claim adds that the governor cut off the benefits for “purely partisan and political purposes.”
Gia Cuccaro, one of the plaintiffs, was a paralegal for three decades and is now facing eviction. Heather Fulop, a single mom, had her job as a neonatal ICU registered nurse eliminated during the pandemic, according to the Florida unemployment lawsuit.
Plaintiff Lori Beth Ertel was self-employed prior to COVID and was doing accounting work for small businesses, the claim states. “Since COVID, many of those businesses have closed leaving her without clients. She has sent out many job applications with no response. She tried to apply to work at McDonald’s, but was told that she is overqualified and they were worried that they would train her and she would leave when she found something better.”
Without the $300 a week payment, Ertel only gets $125 a week in benefits, which makes it impossible for her to pay her utilities, electric, cable, phone, and car insurance, the Florida unemployment lawsuit adds. She was forced to move in with her adult daughter and 7-year-old granddaughter.
Florida is one of 26 states that have prematurely cut off the weekly federal unemployment payments. However, Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) Labor Data Chief said two weeks ago that the data does not yet tell whether ending benefits will actually spur more people returning to work, Spectrum News reports.
In a letter sent to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Martin Walsh notifying the DOL that DEO would end the benefits program, DEO Executive Director Dane Eagle said Florida’s labor data showed that “total private-sector employment has increased by 18,800 jobs and more than 460,000 online job postings.”
While there has been 14 consecutive months of job growth, the DEO confirmed two weeks ago that the state still has 300,000 fewer workers now than before the pandemic, Spectrum News reports.
Attorneys Scott Behren, Gautier Kitchen, and Marie Mattox are representing the Florida plaintiffs. Behren told Spectrum News that there was a statute in Florida that said the state must take advantage to the best it can of any federal benefits available for its residents.
“So the arguments that have been successful in other states are that they are violating their own statutes by neglecting and refusing to take the federal money they’re legally required to take.”
The attorneys say the end goal of the lawsuit is to get federal benefits restored for people who were impacted, not just the named plaintiffs.
“Justice delayed is certainly justice denied when you have your lights cut off and your car repossessed,” Kitchen told Spectrum News.
“If Floridians feel like they’re forgotten, if they feel like they’ve gotten the short end of the stick, if they feel like it shouldn’t be this hard and other places have got it right, why not our state, they are correct in their emotions. They’ve been failed.”
What do you think about Florida’s decision to end unemployment benefits? Let us know in the comments section below.
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75 thoughts onFlorida Hit With Class Action Lawsuit for Ending Federal Unemployment Payments
I want to be added to the lawsuit I AM BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BY THESE PEOPLE AND I NEED HELP