Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify

Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify?

By Jim Stratton ORLANDO SENTINEL

11:53 p.m. EST, March 25, 2010
At first, Bonnie Lewis thought her boss was joking.

He had told her that the Longwood call center where she worked was closing. But he was offering Lewis a sales job, one that meant driving around Central Florida.

"I have cataracts so bad I can't see," thought Lewis, 59. "I have no depth perception. I don't have a car."

So she declined the offer and applied for unemployment. After one check, the money stopped because her employer told the state that she had quit, making her ineligible for benefits.

"She didn't quit," says Sally McArthur, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Orlando who got Lewis' benefits restored. "They eliminated her job and offered her something she couldn't possibly do. … They were looking for reasons to turn her down."

The state said it cannot readily determine whether the rate of initial denials is rising, but several lawyers who handle such cases say they have seen similar instances in which the state or employers appear to be stepping up efforts to disqualify out-of-work Floridians.
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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify