Florida cutting hundreds of unemployment call center workers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/14/coronavirus-live-updates-us/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_coronavirus-luf-1245am%3Aprime-time%2Fpromo#link-AUDMUX73EJEXBGQK5WQNSQIVEE
Floridas unemployment call centers will lose hundreds of workers this week, local media reported, a cut that will likely further cripple a system already struggling to keep up with demand.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, which oversees the states unemployment claims, confirmed to WTLV that it had ended its contracts with two vendors responsible for hiring customer service representatives.
The state agency is still working to process hundreds of thousands of the more than 3 million unemployment claims filed in Florida since mid-March, according to its online dashboard.
While DEO did not immediately say how many customer service positions would be lost, WTLV reported that number reached the hundreds. The phone lines manned by these workers already have impossibly long wait times, some Floridians say.
The tweet from a WTLV reporter: