TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — Over the last two months, the ABC Action News I-Team has sent the names and information of nearly 300 people to the Florida Department of Commerce. These are people who have waited months for unemployment benefits, stuck in what's called an "adjudication hold" to determine their benefits. Many turn to the I-Team when they cannot get answers or reach anyone at the state's unemployment office.
But now, some people have followed up to let the I-Team know after sharing their stories, they are finally getting the relief they desperately need.
MORE COVERAGE: Floridians waiting months to receive unemployment benefits, unable to reach the state
When asked what it meant for her to receive her unemployment benefits, Monica Washington said, "It meant everything!"
The I-Team first met Washington after she moved in with her daughter. She was out of work and out of money to cover her own rent.
“It has been the most difficult situation that I’ve experienced," Washington said. "I have had to navigate my limitations, as well as the gains that I’ve made in my life throughout the years, with great perseverance, determination because I do have cerebral palsy."
Washington applied for unemployment on September 8.
Washington learned in February that no one had been assigned to review her case. She went without an unemployment check for five months, which only came after the I-Team shared her story.
“I was floored. I was so upset," Washington said.
The money will help pay for her car insurance and the storage unit, where she's kept most of her belongings.
“To have a financial source, where I can at least know that I will be able to take care of at least some of my expenses, that just means everything, I'm just so excited," Washington told the I-Team. “The fact that you’re reporting on this issue, this problem, constantly, I think that that is so helpful to citizens like myself and so many others. And so I thank you."
Robert Gioia, who first shared his story with the I-Team on Christmas Eve, said he is speaking out for the many others in his situation who are even worse off.
“It's just very stressful for people who are managing bills. And that don't have the support like we do," he said.
Gioia and his wife Caitlin said they would have been homeless without help from loved ones.
“A sigh of relief," Gioia said of recently receiving all of his benefits. "If it wasn't for friends and family, I wasn't sure where we would be right now. Her dad has helped us out, my parents have helped us out, her mom has helped us, I even have friends of mine and I go to church with, that has helped us out.”
Gioia was laid off from his management position at a financial services company. He is close to landing a new job, but it has taken time and will come with a pay cut.
When told that the I-Team has sent hundreds of names to the state of people needing help, he said, "The state needs to do more. That the program needs to be reset. I feel like the salary that they give out for the weekly basis or the benefits is too low. Our minimum wage increased, everything increased, Social
Security increased, but inflation is high and that doesn't even cover the bills. But it would have been helpful.”
The maximum benefit amount in Florida is among the lowest in the country — $275 a week for 12 weeks.
To get that, every two weeks, Gioia visited the CareerSource in Clearwater.
“It was very difficult, with my Parkinson's, because I have good days and bad days, there are some days where I have to be in a wheelchair, like yesterday at times. So that itself was a huge task, just getting me going to at the center a few days, but it was frustrating at times, but again, I try to stay positive and think about the people that don't know this information that it needs to get out to, that they're wasting time if they go through online and try to get help through online, they have to go into that center and request updates and escalations," Gioia said. "We had to go back to get updates every 14 days, and we're getting told the same thing, your case has been escalated, wait another 14 days."
Right around the time that Gioia contacted the I-Team in December, he had also contacted the attorney general's office. When they followed up in February, he said he received his benefits the next week.
“The people in charge of the state really need to have ears and eyes in the system," Gioia said.
The I-Team also received an email from someone who filled out the below form in Orlando, who said they finally received all of their benefits after the state reached out and mentioned a TV station reached out on their behalf.
The I-Team has contacted CareerSource and the attorney general's office, who are also working to get responses from the Department of Commerce, who has failed to answer repeated calls and emails on behalf of unemployed Floridians.
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