I'm going through the exact same frustrating experience right now! My claim has been stuck in "pending adjudication" since early February and the phone system is absolutely broken. I've called probably 200+ times over the past month and either get a busy signal or it just hangs up after a few rings. Based on all the incredibly helpful advice in this thread, I'm going to try calling tomorrow at exactly 7:30am using the correct menu options (press 2, then 4 - I had no idea I was doing it wrong by pressing 1!). Thanks especially to @Hannah Flores for sharing that tip about getting through and the proper menu path. I'm also seriously considering the Claimyr service that @Evelyn Xu and @Sophia Russo mentioned. Normally I'd be skeptical of paying a third party to reach my own state government, but at this point I'm desperate and it sounds like multiple people here have had real success with it. The stress of not knowing what's holding up my claim while bills keep coming is honestly overwhelming. It's infuriating that Florida has designed this system to be deliberately impossible to navigate - they're clearly counting on people giving up out of frustration. But reading everyone's experiences here gives me hope that there are ways to break through if we're persistent enough. Thanks to everyone sharing their stories and tips - it really helps to know we're not alone in this nightmare, even though none of us should have to deal with such a broken system!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I've been dealing with the same "pending adjudication" nightmare since mid-February and was starting to think I was the only one struggling with DEO's broken phone system. Reading everyone's experiences here has been both validating and incredibly helpful. I had no idea I was using the wrong menu options this whole time - I've been pressing 1 like @Amara Torres was doing instead of the correct path (2, then 4). Thanks to @Hannah Flores for sharing that crucial tip! I'm definitely going to try calling at exactly 7:30am tomorrow with the right menu sequence. The Claimyr service that @Evelyn Xu and @Sophia Russo mentioned sounds promising too. I'm usually skeptical of third-party services, but when multiple people report actually getting connected to DEO agents who could access their files and resolve issues, it seems worth considering. The fact that @Sophia Russo's employer dispute got resolved within 5 days after using it gives me hope. This whole situation is so stressful when you're already dealing with financial pressure, but it really helps to see everyone here supporting each other and sharing strategies. We shouldn't have to fight this hard just to access benefits we've earned through our own tax contributions, but at least we're not fighting alone! For anyone else reading this - definitely keep claiming your weeks during adjudication. From what @Olivia Van-Cleve explained, that's crucial for getting backpay when these cases finally get resolved.

Thanks everyone for clearing this up! Gonna call my tax guy tomorrow and double check everything. Pretty sure i just misunderstood what the DEO person was saying on the phone. At least i know not to expect any extra refund now!

Good to hear you're getting it sorted out! This is such a common confusion - I went through the same thing last year thinking there might be some special unemployment tax treatment. The DEO phone reps sometimes mention tax-related stuff but they're not tax experts, so it's easy to misinterpret what they're saying. Your tax professional will be able to look at your specific 1099-G and see exactly what happened with your withholdings versus what you actually owe. Hope it all works out for you!

That's definitely sounding like back pay from a previous issue that was resolved in your favor. Still worth confirming with DEO to make sure you know exactly what it's for and if there will be any more payments coming. Let us know what they say after you speak with them!

Good luck with getting through to DEO! Just a heads up - if you do use a service like Claimyr to help you reach an agent, make sure you have all your questions written down beforehand. DEO agents sometimes have limited time per call, so you'll want to ask specifically about: 1) What the $574 payment was for, 2) If there are any more payments coming, and 3) If there's any documentation you should have received explaining it. Also, even if it turns out to be legitimate back pay, it's still good that you're being proactive about verifying it rather than just assuming!

glad u got it! same thing happened to my cousin last month too btw. seems like they do this payment delay thing pretty often now

I'm new to this community but wanted to share that I experienced something similar about 3 weeks ago. My payment showed "processed" for 6 days before it actually hit my account. I was panicking because I had never seen delays like that before, but it eventually came through. From what I've noticed lurking in this group, it seems like DEO has been having more frequent payment processing delays since they started doing system upgrades. Really glad to see your payment finally came through Romeo! It's such a relief when that stress is lifted.

you might wanna check ur way2go card balance if thats how u get paid sometimes they dont notify you when backdated payments go thru and the money just shows up

I'm in a very similar situation and this thread is incredibly helpful! Filed in late February but need to backdate to early January when I was actually laid off. Been waiting about 4 weeks now with just "pending" status. One thing I learned from my research is that Florida has a specific statute (Section 443.101) that allows backdating for up to 4 weeks if you can show good cause. Since you mentioned your employer told you to wait until severance ended, that should definitely qualify as "misinformation from employer" which is one of their accepted reasons. I'm planning to try the state representative route if I don't hear anything by week 6. Also going to start checking my CONNECT inbox daily for any fact-finding requests. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's reassuring to know others have gotten through this process successfully!