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Florida Unemployment Compensation & Administrative Appeals
Attorneys Consulting in Florida Unemployment Compensation and Administrative Appeals CasesUnemployment compensation is designed to provide temporary wage replacement benefits to qualified individuals who find themselves out of work through no fault of their own, such as staff reductions, layoffs and company downsizing. Unless the claimant was terminated for some act or omission legally constituting "misconduct on the job" or "misconduct related to the work" all claimants are entitled to weekly compensation benefits for as many as 50 weeks or more. The term "misconduct" is a legal term having specific meaning in Florida law. Employers must be able to show some act or omission related to the specific job that constitutes "misconduct." Because of the national recession, there are an unusually high number of people in Florida (and in most other states) being asked to resign, or being laid off, fired, discharged or terminated from employment, many for pure financial reasons alone. Consequently, Florida's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund has been running very low on federal and state trust fund money as reported in many Florida newspapers. These trust funds are collected as payroll taxes from most employers, and are set aside in a trust designed to pay unemployment compensation benefits to employees who are qualified to receive benefits. Any large increase in claims is problematic. The severe financial crunch we are experiencing is causing many Florida employers to cut back on their payroll expense by terminating many long-time employees. Because the Trust Fund is nearly depleted, Florida law allows Florida to increase its payroll taxes on all employers in order to replenish the fund; and in some cases Florida may charge some employers' accounts directly for benefits paid to their former employees thereby increasing the percentage and dollar amount of payroll taxes due each month or quarterly from these beleaguered employers. This critical situation appears to encourage some employers to terminate some employees "for cause," thereby making it more difficult for the terminated employee to qualify for benefits (and lessening the financial strain on the employer). Many claimants who are reporting terminations "for cause" are initially denied benefits and must file an appeal in to contest the determination. Some beleaguered employers trying to save money are also using lawyers or other unemploymentspecialists trained to dispute new claims at the onset, trying to have new claims denied at the beginning of the process. Consequently, many unemployed people seeking benefits are finding themselves being denied initially, and thus having to file an administrative appeal at AWI. Unless the terminated employee is "computer savvy" the initial online claims application process can be quite complex. The online system requires claimants to answer many questions about their job history and about their termination. Some questions are difficult to understand; all questions must be answered truthfully by the claimant in order to obtain unemployment benefits in Florida. We believe most people seeking unemployment compensation benefits need competent help from some knowledgeable source before they file claims online. And if an individual has filed online and has been denied we advise them to seek competent assistance before filing an appeal. At The Minnick Law Firm in Tallahassee, Florida, we provide professional advice and offer hands-on assistance to terminated employees at each step of the process. We also provide expert consultation to other attorneys who have clients dealing with all manner of unemployment compensation issues and claims, especially those trying to take administrative appeals. At MLF we focus close attention on cases involving new and existing clients; and we offer representation and consulting services arising in Tallahassee and in most cities east and west of Tallahassee throughout the panhandle of north Florida. Some of the cities where our clients live include St. Petersburg, Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Lake City, Madison, Monticello, Tallahassee, Crawfordville, Wakulla, Quincy, Bristol, Blountstown, Marianna, Apalachicola, St. George Island, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Destin, Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola. To learn more about denials of unemployment compensation benefits and administrative appeals of denied claims, including how we can represent, consult or assist you in these matters, please contact The Minnick Law Firm today. The Minnick Law FirmA Florida Employment, Labor, Consumer Protection, and Civil Rights Law Firm Specializing in Expert Consultation Services for Our Selected ClientsPost Office Box 15588 |  |             |