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  4. Florida's governor says the state's unemployment system was set up to 'pay out the least number of claims' and discourage people seeking benefits

Florida's governor says the state's unemployment system was set up to 'pay out the least number of claims' and discourage people seeking benefits

Joseph Zeballos-Roig   

Florida's governor says the state's unemployment system was set up to 'pay out the least number of claims' and discourage people seeking benefits
  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state's unemployment system was structured to keep benefit payouts to a minimum and discourage people from seeking them.
  • "I think the goal was for whoever designed, it was, 'Let's put as many kind of pointless roadblocks along the way, so people just say, oh, the hell with it, I'm not going to do that,'" he said in a CBS4 Miami interview.
  • Many states after the Great Recession moved to tighten jobless benefits and keep payouts to a minimum, and the unemployment system in Florida melted down early on in the pandemic.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state's unemployment system was designed to pay the least amount of claims and frustrate jobless people seeking benefits.

In an interview with CBS4 Miami which aired Tuesday, the Florida Republican characterized that approach as the system's "animating philosophy."

"I mean having studied how it was internally constructed, I think the goal was for whoever designed, it was, 'Let's put as many kind of pointless roadblocks along the way, so people just say, oh, the hell with it, I'm not going to do that,'" he said.

Asked whether it was the intention of his predecessor Rick Scott — now a US senator — to structure unemployment benefits that way, DeSantis said the system was designed to cut benefit payments to a minimum.

"I'm not sure if it was his, but I think definitely in terms of how it was internally constructed," he said. "It was definitely done in a way to lead to the least number of claims being paid out."

Sen. Rick Scott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: Lawmakers are $2 trillion apart on a coronavirus stimulus that could bring a fresh round of checks and restart boosted unemployment benefits. Here are the top obstacles to a deal.

The comments reflect a reality for many unemployment systems across the country. After the Great Recession, many states moved to tighten access to benefits and reduce the amount of money paid out, The New York Times reported. By 2019, only 11% of unemployed people in Florida were collecting benefits, federal data shows.

The unemployment system in Florida, like almost every other in the US, confronted an avalanche of jobless claims at the onset of the pandemic. States scrambled to add a $600 federal supplement and also expand eligibility to gig workers and independent contractors who usually don't qualify for benefits.

The state's website for jobless claims repeatedly crashed early on. In April, images of hundreds of people lining up to file paper forms in southern Florida garnered national attention.

DeSantis sought to deflect blame for the meltdown in the CBS Miami interview, saying a 2019 state audit of the unemployment system never reached his desk. That report from auditors warned DeSantis the unemployment website contained serious glitches and errors hindering its effectiveness, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

Around 2.2 million Floridians are now collecting unemployment benefits, according to the state's Department of Economic Opportunity.

Read more: 100 deals and $1 million in profit a year: Here's how Mike Simmons made a simple change to his real-estate investing strategy that took him from small-time house flipper to full-fledged mogul

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