Deniz Realty Partners Guide: How to Apply for Unemployment in Florida
The spread of the Coronavirus and the plummeting economy are placing millions of Americans in a position of financial hardship. If your job has halted your employment and closed business for the duration of the crisis, you might be eligible for unemployment benefits. Here’s a quick guide to help you through that process.
Before You Begin
Before applying for unemployment benefits, you have to meet three sets of criteria.
You have to be able and actively looking for another job. You have to have lost your job at no fault of your own, and you must have made the minimum amount to make all your payments.
You’ll also need a large amount of information to provide the government with to help them determine how much to give you in benefits. The maximum amount they can give you is $275 per week. If you received a severance package or pension this could lessen the amount you get and shorten the duration. If you are also experiencing life issues, such as childcare or health problems, that can prevent you from actively seeking work this can also affect the amount you receive. Here is the list of information you’ll need to have ready, directly from the Florida Unemployment Eligibilty website, which you can view here for more information.
- Social Security number
- Contact information (names, addresses and phone numbers) for each of your employers for the past 18 months
- The dates you worked for each employer for the past 18 months
- The amount of wages you earned from each employer for the past 18 months
- The amount of pre-tax wages you earned for the current week starting at 12:01 am on Sunday which starts your first week of filing a claim for unemployment
- A driver’s license or some other form of proof of identity
- The name and local number of your labor union hall if you are a member of a labor union
- Your Alien Registration Number and work permit expiration date if you are not a U.S. citizen
- A DD-214 if you were a member of the military within the past two years
- Your SF-50 or SF-8 and check stubs or W2 proof of earnings if you were a federal employee
- If you want your benefits deposited directly into your bank account, you will need a check or a deposit slip
Where to Apply
To file a claim for unemployment you will have to go to Florida’s CONNECT site, and create an account if you haven’t applied for unemployment before. You can do that here. The list of information above will be required, and you probably won’t receive your first payment until about 3-4 weeks after your application is submitted so it’s good to be proactive with your application. The maximum amount given is $275 per week and the cap for unemployment benefits sits at 26 weeks.
If you believe your application was wrongly denied you can file an appeal, and you have 20 days after receiving your denial to do this.
To get an idea of how much you’ll be receiving every week for unemployment benefits, try the Florida Unemployment Calculator for a better understanding. This will require your amount in wages all the way back to October of 2018.
Additional Information
For more information about eligibility, how to receive benefits or other concerns, visit the links below.
Stay tuned for more information, tips and tricks from Deniz Realty Partners to help you through this crisis!
Florida (FL) Unemployment Eligibility
Florida Unemployment Calculator
How To Appeal Your Unemployment Benefit Claim
Florida Jobs for updates and information