DEO suddenly waived work search requirements until May 29th - is this legit?
Hey y'all, I just logged into CONNECT to claim my weeks and noticed something weird - there was a message saying work search activities have been waived until May 29th, 2025! Has anyone else seen this? I've been dutifully applying to 5 jobs per week and documenting everything, so this would be a huge relief if true. But I'm nervous it might be a glitch in the system or something I'm misunderstanding. I don't want to skip reporting my work search and then get hit with an overpayment notice later. Anyone have confirmation this waiver is actually real?
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Caleb Stone
its real. got same message. they do this sometimes when job market gets bad. happened back in 2023 too
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Jade Santiago
•Thanks! Did you get any kind of official email about it? I'm still worried about relying on just the CONNECT message.
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Daniel Price
Yes, this is legitimate. The DEO announced the temporary work search waiver yesterday due to regional economic factors affecting job availability. The waiver applies to all current claimants on regular Reemployment Assistance. However, it's still a good practice to keep documentation of any work search you do complete, as these temporary waivers can sometimes end earlier than announced if conditions change. You can find the official announcement on the DEO website under 'News Releases.'
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Olivia Evans
•My cousin works for CareerSource and confirmed this too. Said they're getting SWAMPED with calls about it.
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Sophia Bennett
I WOULDN'T TRUST IT!!!! The DEO is notorious for saying one thing then hitting you with overpayments months later!!! I got burned by this exact situation in 2024 when they waived work search for 3 weeks after that hurricane, then came back 6 months later claiming I should have still been doing it!!!! Had to pay back $1,780 that I didn't have!!!! KEEP DOING YOUR WORK SEARCH REGARDLESS!!!!!
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Aiden Chen
•While I understand your concern, that situation was different. The hurricane waiver only applied to specific counties affected by the disaster, but was mistakenly shown to all claimants in CONNECT. This current waiver has been officially announced statewide. That said, documenting work search activities even during waiver periods is always a good precaution.
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Zoey Bianchi
wait is this only for regular unemployment or does it apply to people on extended benefits too? im so confused cuz my account shows the message but my friend said her connect doesn't have anything about work search waiver and shes on some kind of extension
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Daniel Price
•The waiver only applies to regular Reemployment Assistance claims. If your friend is on Extended Benefits (EB), she still needs to complete and document all work search activities as those have different federal requirements that Florida can't waive. The DEO doesn't always make these distinctions clear in their system messages.
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Christopher Morgan
I just got off the phone with a DEO representative who confirmed that yes, the work search requirement has been temporarily waived until May 29th. It took me over two hours of calling to get through though. If anyone else needs to speak with DEO about this or any other issues with their claim, I highly recommend using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It's a service that helps you get through to an actual DEO agent without the endless busy signals. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/UzW_hbUy-ss?si=zORd51jeq1GX5Ldj showing how it works. So much easier than spending all day redialing!
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Jade Santiago
•Thanks for confirming! Did they say anything about whether we need to do anything special when claiming weeks during this waiver period? Like do we still need to answer "yes" to the work search question but just not provide details?
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Christopher Morgan
•When claiming weeks, you'll still see the work search questions, but there should be a notice saying "Requirements waived - no information needed." If you don't see that message when claiming, definitely use Claimyr to reach DEO right away for clarification. The agent told me they're updating all accounts in batches, so some claimants might see the update later than others.
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Olivia Evans
my neighbor says its because of that big factory closing down in Tampa and they're expecting like 5,000 new claims to hit the system so they're trying to reduce paperwork or something
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Aiden Chen
•While the Tampa manufacturing closure is certainly a factor (affecting about 3,200 workers, not 5,000), the DEO's official statement cites broader economic indicators including a 0.8% rise in the state unemployment rate over the past quarter as the primary reason for the temporary waiver. This is actually the third such temporary waiver in the past 18 months.
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Jade Santiago
UPDATE: Just claimed my weeks and confirmed the waiver is definitely showing in my account. When I got to the work search section, there was a message saying "Work search requirements temporarily waived through 05/29/2025 - no documentation required." So it seems legit! What a relief honestly, job hunting has been brutal lately.
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Caleb Stone
•nice! one less headache to deal with. DEO system is confusing enough as it is
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Aurora St.Pierre
Wait I'm confused... so if we're on regular unemployment (not pandemic or disaster) we don't have to do the 5 job applications? What about the appointments at CareerSource? I have one scheduled next week that took forever to set up
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Daniel Price
•The waiver only applies to the weekly work search activities (job applications, etc.). If you have a mandatory CareerSource appointment as part of your Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA), you still need to attend that appointment. Missing it could affect your benefits eligibility regardless of the work search waiver. I recommend calling CareerSource directly to confirm your specific appointment requirements.
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