Morgan’s Tip of the Week – More Florida UE Changes Coming
Greetings, last week, Florida announced it will apply to participate in the Federal Lost Wages Assistance Program created by the President’s Executive Order. The CARES Act additional $600 in unemployment benefits expired on 7/31, and mostly everyone on unemployment has been receiving the Florida $275 a week maximum since then.
Florida opting to participate in the FLWAP means everyone receiving Unemployment Benefits will get a retroactive (to 8/1/20) weekly additional $300, bringing the Florida weekly UE amount to $575. (The Executive Order implied the states should pay an additional extra $100 as well but it does not appear that Florida will be doing so.) FEMA just approved the Florida application.
Make sure you send any claimants collecting indemnity a DWC-19 for August to capture the retroactive payments for your offsets/overpayments. And get those DWC-4’s ready for overpayments. Approximately 1 million people in Florida are receiving unemployment benefits currently.
The Federal money is coming from a $44 Billion fund within FEMA, and the additional $300 runs out when that fund runs out for all states. Estimates are it will last 3 weeks to a month. After that, unless an agreement is reached by Congress, Florida will revert back to our state $275 UE benefit. Here is Gov. DeSantis’ press release: