Attorneys in Broward County, Fla., have filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Department of Economic Opportunity seeking to have $300 a week federal unemployment benefits immediately restored.
In a complaint filed in Broward Circuit Court late Sunday on behalf of 10 unemployed Floridians, attorneys Gautier Kitchen, Marie Mattox and Scott Behren argue that DeSantis and DEO Secretary Dane Eagle did not have the authority to end the federal benefits in June.
The American Rescue Act extended those payments until Sept. 6, but Florida joined 25 other states, all but one with Republican governors, in ending the benefits early. DeSantis has argued the benefits discouraged Floridians from going back to work.
But Indiana was forced to return to distributing federal benefits after a lawsuit similar to the one filed in Fort Lauderdale.
The suit cites a section of Florida statutes that attorneys argue requires the state to cooperate fully with the federal government on unemployment benefits.
“[T]he Department of Economic Opportunity and its tax collection service provider shall cooperate with the United States Department of Labor to the fullest extent,” the statute reads, “and shall take those actions … necessary to secure for this state all advantages available under the provisions of federal law relating to reemployment assistance.”
“I think it’s a clear statutory duty,” Behren said. The statute says that they shall make themselves available. It’s not optional. It’s not discretionary. It’s not, ‘We can decide whether or not we want to take these benefits for political purposes, to create a good sound bite on certain news outlets.’ You are required to do it, that is your job.”
The attorneys are requesting an emergency injunction to force DEO to issue the $300 payments until the case is decided, as well as retroactive payments for the four weeks since the state ended benefits.
“As a result of the actions of the Defendants, the Plaintiffs and all unemployed Floridians have suffered and will continue to suffer substantial and irreparable harms,” the suit states, “... prohibiting their ability to pay for basic living expense[s] such as vehicles, food and rent.”
The plaintiffs and other unemployed Floridians, the suit states, can’t “wait for delayed benefits until the end of this controversy.”
“The state is now keeping away from its residents in excess of $400 million in benefits just for the two months,” Behren said. “And based upon the complaint, and based upon discussions with all these people, these people need the money.”
The suit described the current situation facing all 10 plaintiffs.
Gia Cuccaro “has been unable to pay her rent and is about to be evicted from her home, due to the lack of federal payments and the expiration of the eviction moratorium on July 31, 2021,” the suit states. Cuccaro is a 30-year paralegal “who has been actively searching, but is unable to find work.”
Heather Fulop “is a single mother of two children, ages five and eleven,” the suit states. She was a registered nurse whose hours were eliminated when there was an influx of COVID cases in her hospital.
“Even though she only received the meager Florida unemployment payment of $275 per week, with the extra federal benefits she was able to pay her utilities and her rent,” the suit states. “Based upon her financial situation and the cutoff of federal benefits she now fears losing her home.”
She was hoping that the federal benefits would last until her children went back to school in September and she could try to find a full-time job, the attorneys wrote.
“She is not lazy,” the suit states. “She has worked since she was fourteen years old.”
Behren said several of the plaintiffs are in a similar situation, unable to fully search for a job until their children are back in school. Others, he said, are elderly people “who can’t find jobs because they’re either overqualified or because there’s some ageism involved.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, has been personally helping Central Floridians navigate the byzantine state unemployment system. She said she hoped the lawsuit succeeds.
“Florida is still in a pandemic and with COVID19 cases on the rise,” Eskamani said. “Though the majority of Floridians have been able to get back to work, we know many who are still furloughed and struggling to find suitable work. Ensuring Floridians have access to federal benefits is the right thing to do and will help prevent other economic challenges like evictions and homelessness.”
The governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
Last year, the same group of attorneys sued the DEO and Deloitte Consulting, the company that built the $81-million CONNECT website, as the state struggled to process the millions of applications that poured into the unemployment office. In that case, a judge declined to grant an injunction ordering Florida to fix the system and later dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that “courts can’t tell executive agencies how to run their business.”
