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EMPLOYEES AT ONC CHRIS: MANY CENTRAL FLORIDIANS ARE VOICING CONCERN ABOUT SIGNING UP FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. SOME CLAIM THEY HAVE TRIED FOR WEEKS AND HAVE A PENDING STATUS. OTHERS SAY THEY TRY CALLING TH HOTLINE FOR HELP, IT TAKES HOURS TO GET THROUGH TO ANYONE. ON TUESDAY, GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS ANNOUNCED THE STATE GOVERNMENT WILL WORK WITH LARGE EMPLOYERS WHICH FURLOUGH THOUSANDS TO EASE THE BURDEN OF A STRESSED UNEMPLOYMENT SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM’S GETTING CRUSHED, WE KNOW THIS IS COMING. SO IS THERE A WAY TO GET A HOLD OF IT AND MAYBE GET THE DATA DIRECTLY FROM THE EMPLOYER AND THEN GO AHEAD AND PUT IT THROUG CHRIS: NAMED SPECIFICALLY IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE, DISNEY, WHICH PLANS TO FURLOUGH THOUSANDS ON APRIL 19. WE SPOKE WITH ONE OF THE DISNEY UNION PRESIDENTS ABOUT THEIR CONCERNS WITH THE SYSTEM, AND HOW THE DISNEY FURLOUGHS COULD LEAD TO 70,0 PEOPLE TRYING TO APPLY FOR BENEFITS AT ONCE. >> I HAVE GRAVE CONCERN THAT IT’S GOING TO STRESS THE SYSTEM BEYOND WHAT IT’S ALREADY BEEN STRESSED. CHRIS: IT APPEARS GOVERNOR DESANTIS WISHES TO AVOID THAT CRISIS, AND INSTEAD COLLECT INFORMATION FROM BUSINESSES ABOUT THEIR EMPLOYEES. HE CLAIMS THESE EMPLOYEES WILL NOT GET A SPECIAL PLACE IN LINE FOR ENROLLMENT, BUT COULD BE AUTOMATICALLY PUT IN A QUEUE FOR PROCESSING. >> WHEN YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE FROM ONE EMPLOYER AND THAT’S ANNOUNCED, WE CAN WORK WITH THEM TO GET THAT INFORMATION AND GET I THINK THAT WOULD PROBABLY BE BETTER FOR EVERYON CHRIS: GOVERNOR DESANTIS CLAIMS

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is working on a way to auto-enroll thousands of soon-to-be furloughed Disney workers into the state’s beleaguered unemployment system. More than 70,000 Disney cast members will be furloughed on April 19 and become eligible for state benefits.Many of the workers have expressed concern that the state’s unemployment system will not be able to handle the influx of new applicants. Coronavirus in Florida: The latest infoDuring a news conference on Tuesday, DeSantis said that because the state knows this is coming, it “makes sense” to get ahead of it and get the employee data directly from Disney. “We basically said, OK, the systems getting crushed, so we know this is coming… is there a way we can… maybe get the data directly from the employer, and then go ahead and put it through.” DeSantis said the state could put the data from Disney into the system at a slower time, likely in the overnight hours. "I think it would make sense and it would probably be easier for everyone," DeSantis said. DeSantis said the Disney workers would not be getting to jump ahead of people that have already spent significant amounts of time inputting their information. “They wouldn’t get any special place in line,” DeSantis said. Concern over the system led some Disney workers to stage stay-at-home protests on Monday. Across metro Orlando, they hung signs in windows and scrawled messages on sidewalks that said, “SOS. #WorkersCan’tWait.” Disney World has been paying its workforce since it closed its doors in mid-March because of the spreading new coronavirus, but it plans to start indefinite furloughs next week.