TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A judge Thursday denied a temporary injunction to force Florida to pay unemployment benefits to all who have applied. But he said he hoped one side appealed the ruling.
What You Need To Know
- Plaintiffs wanted the judge to compel the state to "fix" or "speed up" unemployment payouts
- Judge said he did not have the authority to do so
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- PREVIOUS STORY: Virtual Lawsuit Hearing Held Over Florida's Broken Unemployment System
Judge John Cooper heard from several Floridians who say they are either still waiting for benefits or only partially received them. He showed a spreadsheet during the virtual hearing Thursday with the names of thousands who say they are in a similar situation.
Cooper also heard testimony from Florida Dept. of Economic Opportunity officials, who said the agency was doing all it could to process claims. However, the officials knew of no current problems with the CONNECT unemployment site and the system was working.
"I think all systems experience down time, I don't know what you would define as 'working'," said the DEO official. "A system to allow 1 million claimants to be paid in short period of time is working."
Cooper said he was sympathetic to the plight of the tens of thousands of Floridians who are part of the lawsuit. However, he insisted there was nothing he could do to compell DEO to "fix" or "speed up" payments.
"I have no power to direct," Cooper said.
The Florida unemployment website has been plagued with problems since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands say they either have only gotten partial payments, not been paid at all, or wrongly deemed ineligible.
Cooper said he was sympathetic to the plight of the tens of thousands of Floridians who are part of the lawsuit. However, he insisted there was nothing he could do to compel DEO to "fix" or "speed up" payments.
"I have no power to direct," Cooper said.
While the judge denied the temporary injunction, he did not dismiss the case. This means the case can be appealed to the First District Court of Appeals.
"Now there's a lot of problems — I know that and I know a lot of people are being treated unfairly," Cooper said. "But I don't think I have the power to take over the department of DEO."
He also said if people had a problem with the unemployment compensation system, they could cure it by voting.
"If you see something that is wrong, you vote the person out," Cooper said. "[Y]ou vote out that person or that legislator, that city council person, that county commissioner and you put someone else new in office. That may come across as a harsh way to preserve what I personally think is our democracy."