length of unemployment

Hello all,
I am new to this unemployment filing and oh what a hastle it can be. Could anyone tell me how long an unemployment claim is for? And what all the extensions are about. Calling the unemployment number is such a hastle to talk to someone, and I have also found out everyone has a different answer for things. Any help would be apprecited.

Nanny

nanny wrote:Hello all,
I am new to this unemployment filing and oh what a hastle it can be. Could anyone tell me how long an unemployment claim is for? And what all the extensions are about. Calling the unemployment number is such a hastle to talk to someone, and I have also found out everyone has a different answer for things. Any help would be apprecited.

Nanny

Hi Nanny, welcome to the forum, although we don't have anywhere near the number of people posting lately as in the last couple of years. The reason for this is that there has been nothing done to give further help to those in the long term unemployed category. Many here have exhausted all benefits long ago.

Currently, if you qualify for the full length of benefits by your work history, the max number of weeks you can get of "regular" benefits is 26 weeks. However, our illustrious governor and our illustrious legislature have passed a bill in the state House that will cut that down to 20 weeks; if it passes both houses and is signed by the governor, it will be law. I don't know if that bill would affect those who have already started their claim or not. If I were you I would watch this bill closely (most likely it will pass, IMO), and either check with your local state rep or look up the bill online to see how it is worded.

So (again, assuming you qualify for the max weeks, which you can tell from the paperwork you got or will get when you first claim) you have at least 20 weeks coming. After that, you might want to browse through this forum, especially here:
https://unemployed-florida.forumotion.com/t22-fl-sequence-of-unemployment-benefits
where we have outlined the "EUC" benefit tiers.

However, EB, another extended benefits program that was in effect up until last year, is no longer in existence; it requires the legislature to extend those benefits, and this crowd is unlikely to do so. So all that is left after your 20 (or maybe 26 weeks) is EUC. Those tiers would normally go another 53 weeks if you had become unemployed at the start of the recession, but as it stands now, they will end completely at the end of this year.

You can also look for the posts of direct phone numbers for particular reps on this board. Those are possibly outdated by now, but worth a try if you can't get through on the 800 number. There have been some very helpful people in the Tallahassee office. The call centers, which usually get the 800 numbers when they are busy, are for the most part useless, even misleading!

You can also use email to contact them, sometimes helpful, sometimes not. The email contact is on the AWI website; sometimes you have to look hard for it.

Good luck!