If your employer reduces your hours against your will, you may be eligible for partial benefits. If you are earning less than $275 in gross earnings per week, you can file a claim to determine if you would be eligible to receive partial payments.  

The State of Florida's Unemployment Insurance was rebranded with the name Reemployment Assistance to reflect the comprehensive goal of assisting Floridians find work during periods of unemployment through monetary assistance when eligible and training through Florida’s CareerSource centers.  

You can file a claim online via Florida’s CONNECT claims system by clicking the FILE NOW button above.  

If you cannot file a claim online because of legal reasons, computer illiteracy, language barriers, or disabilities you may call 1-800-681-8102. Your claim can be filed by phone 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday.  

 Your claim is effective Sunday of the week you complete your application. By the Florida state law, the first week of a claim for which you would have been eligible for payment is an unpaid week. This week is considered your “waiting week.”  

Florida employers pay for RA through a tax managed by the Florida Department of Revenue. It is one of the employer's business costs. Workers do not pay reemployment taxes.  

The wages used to determine your benefit amounts are the first four of the last five calendar quarters.

For example, Claims filed in October 2019 use wages earned between 10/01/2018 through 09/30/2019.

Once the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has the wages on record, they verify the following to determine if you are eligible for benefits:

• $3400 minimum gross earnings during base period.
• You must have a minimum of two quarters of covered wages.
• Total base period gross wages must be more than 1.5x the highest wage quarter.

Once they complete those checks, the last steps are simple:

• Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA)
  WBA is the highest quarter divided by 26 OR the weekly amount $275, whichever is less
  
• Maximum Benefit Amount (MBA)
  MBA is your total base period wages divided by 4 OR the yearly maximum, whichever is less

Florida maximum benefits adjust every year based on the previous year’s unemployment rates.

2019 Claim Maximums: 12 weeks                   
Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA): $275            
Maximum Benefit Amount (MBA): $3300    

2020 Claim Maximums: 12 weeks
Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA): $275
Maximum Benefit Amount (MBA): $3300

Please note that these can be adjusted in times of severe events & you will need to check with the DEO if there are any changes. 

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announced the waiving of the requirement to wait a week to receive Reemployment Assistance benefits through May 8, 2020. The waiting week has been waived so eligible Floridians may receive the support they need to help recover from the current economic impacts of COVID-19.