@OP - To answer your question, the adjudicator asked me about the circumstances of my previous disqualification (it was a job I quit for health reasons without proper documentation). I explained that the situation was resolved years ago and that I'd worked and paid taxes for 3 years since then. She said that old disqualifications aren't supposed to carry forward if you've had substantial employment since then (apparently 1.5+ years of work should clear it). She said it was clearly a system error and removed it. Probably took 10 minutes once I explained everything. Good luck tomorrow!!

Thank you for these details! My wife's situation is very similar - her 2018 disqualification was because she found a new job within 2 weeks of applying (so she only collected for 2 weeks). She's worked continuously from 2018 until this February. Hopefully we can get an adjudicator who understands the system as well as yours did!

You're right that Florida doesn't have state income tax, but unemployment benefits are still subject to FEDERAL income tax. That's what the 10% withholding is for - federal taxes only. So the DEO is withholding money to send to the IRS, not to the state of Florida.

Update: I was able to change the setting in CONNECT! For anyone else looking, after you log in, click on

To summarize for everyone who has questions about what to report to DEO when claiming weeks: 1. Report: Wages/earnings from work (even part-time or gig work), severance pay, vacation pay, retirement pay if you just started receiving it, self-employment income 2. Don't report: LIHEAP, SNAP/food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, charity assistance, church help, friend/family loans or gifts The key distinction is whether you performed work to receive the money. If you didn't work for it, it's generally not reportable for unemployment purposes. However, there are exceptions like severance and vacation pay which are considered delayed compensation for work already performed.

I had a similar confusion last year about my son giving me money to help with bills while I was on unemployment. I called DEO (waited forever) and they confirmed that gifts and financial help from family members don't need to be reported when claiming weeks. They're only looking for earnings from work. LIHEAP definitely falls under assistance, not earnings.

when did u last contact them about this? cuz i thought there was like a 1yr limit to dispute claims or something??

As a follow-up: when you contact your state representative, be sure to specifically request that they ask DEO for a "Final Determination" on your claim. This forces them to make a decision one way or another, which then gives you appeal rights if necessary. Without a determination, your claim can theoretically remain "pending" forever. Also, if you were approved for PUA but payments were never released, that's a specific technical issue that was common during the pandemic. It's called a "payment hold" status, and it requires a supervisor override in the CONNECT system. This is exactly the kind of issue a legislative office can help resolve, as they can speak directly to supervisors at DEO.

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! Just as an update - I FINALLY got through to someone at DEO after trying for 2 days straight. Turns out it was a combination of things: 1. They initially denied my first claimed week due to "insufficient work search activities" but after review approved it ($275) 2. They found additional wages from a job I had that pushed my weekly benefit amount up by $25 per week 3. That higher amount was retroactively applied to my previous approved week ($25) 4. They also added a one-time adjustment for some technical reason the agent couldn't really explain clearly ($275) So it all adds up to $600! The agent confirmed I can keep it all, so I'm relieved. Really appreciate everyone's help here!

Don't forget to maintain your work search requirements going forward! Now that they're requiring 5 work search activities per week, they're getting really strict about verifying them. I had a week denied last month for only having 4 activities logged, and it took forever to appeal.