Florida's unemployment benefits hotline offers holiday confusion

Forget mixing oil and water. Here's two things that really don't go well together: Florida's unemployment insurance program and a telephone.

Unable to handle the surge of calls about unemployment insurance benefits, the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation has added hundreds of call center workers over the past year. A long-awaited fix was finally gelling, the agency said, when a third-party contractor opened an overflow call center in Orlando last month.

Well, not quite yet.

Consider the latest. The agency on Thursday announced it began distributing extended benefit payouts to the long-term jobless by tapping $418 million in federal stimulus funds.

Its Web site, www.floridajobs.org, urged those with questions on extended benefits to call toll-free, 1-888-896-0091. But those calls were automatically routed to its overflow center, which was closed Friday through Sunday because of the Fourth of July holiday.

An agency spokesman said Friday to avoid the 888 number; callers over the holiday weekend should instead use the standard toll-free unemployment insurance hotline: 1-800-204-2418.

The Times repeatedly got busy signals while testing the 800 number Friday morning.

For those who got through on the 800 number, an automated message directed them to click on floridajobs.org if they were seeking information about extended benefits. Press zero, and another automated message directed them to call 1-888-896-0091 for information about extended benefits. That would be, yes, the office that was closed.

The agency changed the message by midday.

As for getting past persistent busy signals? The agency says its overflow call center should be fully staffed in August and able to handle up to 10,000 calls a day.

Jeff Harrington can be reached at jharrington@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8242.