Reports emerged last week about how efforts in Florida to make claim-filing more difficult are now knee-capping unemployment eligibility during this pandemic.

Privately, Republicans admit that the $77.9 million system that is now failing Florida workers is doing exactly what Scott designed it to do — lower the state’s reported number of jobless claims after the great recession.

“It’s a sh– sandwich, and it was designed that way by Scott,” said one DeSantis advisor. “It wasn’t about saving money. It was about making it harder for people to get benefits or keep benefits so that the unemployment numbers were low to give the governor something to brag about.”

Republican Party of Florida chairman Joe Gruters was more succinct: “$77 million? Someone should go to jail over that.”

With hundreds of thousands of Floridians out of work, the state’s overwhelmed system is making it nearly impossible for many people to even get in line for benefits.

Those in Wisconsin now having great difficulty filing unemployment claims will recognize these same problems: language barriers, mandates for on-line only claiming procedures, difficult to non-existent ways to correct or add claim information that do not fit complex Department-sanctioned processes, legalistic explanations of requirements that have become more complex rather than simplified and clarified, and a near complete absence on social media of explanations concerning unemployment eligibility, processes, and requirements.

And, these problems continue during this pandemic. The Department has only now on the morning of April 6th released versions of its pandemic FAQ in Spanish and Hmong.

But, actual on-line claim-filing, completing job registration requirements at the job center website, and satisfying on-line workshop requirements at the job center website remain English-only.

Note: The Department’s “solution” for these language barriers is to allow a claimant to call for assistance from an interpreter. This assistance, however, depends on the claimant reading the English-language requirements on the website to the interpreter over the phone if the interpreter is outside of the Department (i.e., not a Department employee).

And, the CARES Act FAQ created by the Department is English-only for now. And, to see what the Department is advising about the PUA benefits available under the CARES Act, you need to click here in order to then click on this PDF chart.

All of this clicking and advice to keep re-visiting these website for updated information forces everyone in Wisconsin to keep searching and exploring for answers to simple and vital questions that to them concern how will they pay for groceries and rent next week. The Department should be doing better.

In other words, even if a claim is filed, these on-line requirements to create a resume (not just upload) and to complete required on-line surveys remain in place for receipt of unemployment benefits. The access problems created by these requirements are well-documented and long-standing.

In contrast to Wisconsin, New York has created an excellent flow chart for how all of the various pandemic-related federal benefits will operate in conjunction with regular unemployment benefits.

This chart is front and center in New York state’s explanation of CARES Act benefits and was available in Spanish from the start. Indeed, New York will start paying out PUC benefits this week to its claimants and is now accepting applications by self-employed individuals for PUA benefits.

Until there are changes in Wisconsin, these filing tips and this FAQ should be essential reading for everyone filing unemployment claims in Wisconsin.