Shell Games? Florida's War On The Unemployed Gets A Wink And A Nod From Officials?

Hart, Scott, And DisCONNECT: A Wink, And A Nod To Disaster?

It seems that for the 100,000 Floridans who lost their jobs (through no fault of their own), and who now cannot gain access to the unemployment benefits they're eligible for, they and the state's costly but botched website is just a joke to the officials charged with running it.

Literally.

The downward spiral of unemployment compensation in Florida began when Gov. Rick Scott made it mandatory that benefits be accessed online. Lawmakers then spent $63 million on a new system that virtually shut out the unemployed from the new website. In setting up that site they used a company known for causing similar glitches elsewhere, a company they were warned against using. They went ahead and used them anyway, and the result has been a dysfunctional, costly, website, required intervention from the feds, and is still in the process of ruining the lives of those who can't access their much needed benefits.

Rick Scott and lawmakers continue to throw taxpayer money at Project CONNECT, but that doesn't help much for those eligible for compensation who still have unpaid bills going back to October 2013. Scott and the GOP's incompetence doesn't make any difference to bill collectors.

A review of emails exchanged by state officials at the time of the launch showed that as the website was failing, they celebrated, and when alerted to the failures, dismissed them as "minor."

However, the botched website is only part of the nightmare. In addition to that, there are the “Initial Skills Reviews” that have delayed benefits for more than 120,000 job applicants. As this report from Matt Dixon at The Florida Times Union indicates, Florida officials are making light of those failures as well:

When asked by a Senate committee if the assessments were working as designed, an official charged with overseeing aspects of the program asked, “Are we still being recorded?” then winked at the committee.

That winking official is Chris Hart, president of Workforce Florida.

More from Dixon:

Unnoticed, though, 120,006 people seeking unemployment compensation through September faced delays in receiving benefits for not completing the Initial Skills Review. That’s about one out of every eight applicants.

The state does not track how long those people faced delays, but officials said many were for two weeks or more. The maximum biweekly compensation checks is $275.

Of the 120,000, some 14,755 applicants were deemed ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits for failure to complete the Initial Skills Review, state records show.

In addition, many acknowledge the Initial Skills Reviews failed to live up to expectations. They were supposed to access each applicant’s skills, either to help with job placement or to identify areas where the job seeker needs additional training.

When asked last week during a Senate committee hearing if the reviews were working as intended, Chris Hart, president of Workforce Florida, responded, “Are we still being recorded?” before shooting a quick wink to lawmakers.

Last month Rick Scott was quick to brag about a drop in Florida's unemployment rates. But here's another connection he hopes will be missed in those numbers:

Florida is also battling a disastrous makeover of its jobless benefits website that has thwarted thousands from getting their checks and fueled the trend of unemployed workers giving up their search. When people stop seeking work, they are no longer counted among the unemployed or as part of the labor force at all.

So to review, even though only about 50 percent of those seeking unemployment benefits in Florida did so online, Rick Scott and Republicans in the legislature decided to fix a compensation problem that wasn't broken in 2011, and gave a company with a reputation for "breaking" similar websites millions to do so. To fix (wink, wink) the resulting disaster they threw more money at the problem. As the site initially failed, they blew off the warning signs and celebrated. Now as yet another component of the disastrous unemployment system also fails, we have officials dismissing that with a wink and a smile. Rick Scott then brags that unemployment numbers are down, ignoring the fact that many among those numbers can't get jobs OR benefits, and are forced to quit looking for jobs that don't exist.

He also expects compensation from Floridians with another four years of Scott World for doing so.

Shell games, anyone?