TALLAHASSEE — Any Floridian who hasn’t been able to successfully apply for unemployment benefits yet should now use this new website to sign up: www.floridajobs.org/raapplication.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, which operates the state’s broken unemployment system, announced the new website on Wednesday night.

Unlike the old site, the new site is mobile-friendly, allowing people to apply on their phone or tablet. While early reviews show that applicants have not been met with the error messages and other glitches plaguing the old site, the new site went down within a few hours of its launch.

It’s official — @GovRonDeSantis confirms that “new” @FLDEO website is basically a glorified Google Form & your info needs to be then migrated by state employees into CONNECT.



PLZ RT bcuz we don’t want ppl to think their application is complete.



There are still more steps left! — Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) April 9, 2020

The new site is essentially a mobile-friendly electronic form and not a substitute for the old site. State workers are taking the electronic forms and entering them into the old site. Applicants will still have to use the old site to modify their application, however.

The old site has been so crippled by the crush of people thrown out of work because of the coronavirus that the department this week had to revert to paper applications. Anyone who has mailed a paper application and not received a confirmation that the state has received it can still apply on the new site, state officials said. Anyone who used the old site to apply should not apply again.

The state on Wednesday also rolled out a mobile-friendly version of its coronavirus financial aid page, which has links to frequently asked questions and the paper applications for individuals and businesses. The new mobile-friendly site is www.floridajobs.org/COVID-19.

Before applying for unemployment, state officials recommend you first gather the following information so you’re not searching for it in the middle of the process:

Social Security number

Driver’s License or State ID number

Employment information for the last 18 months for each employer:

Employer ID - FEIN number (this is found on your W2 or 1099 tax form), if available

Employer name (as it appears on a pay stub), address, and phone number

First and last day of work

Gross earnings (before taxes are taken out) covering the last 18 months

Reason for separation

Anyone who falls under one of the following categories should also have this information on hand before applying:

Not a U.S. Citizen: Alien Registration Number or other work authorization form

Military employee: Copy of your DD-214 Member 4; If you do not have the Member 4, then a copy of your Member 2-7 may be used.

Federal employee: SF-8 or SF-50

Union member: Union name, hall number, and phone number

For additional questions about filing unemployment, visit our own FAQ page, which we’re updating regularly with the latest information.

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