Judge rejects ordering claims system fixes
Separation of powers cited in unemployment case
TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to the constitutional separation of powers, a Leon County circuit judge has refused to order the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to take steps to “fix” the state’s much-maligned unemployment compensation system to process and pay claims.
Judge John Cooper turned down a request for a preliminary injunction in a potential class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of people who have faced problems in receiving unemployment benefits amid massive job losses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cooper, who held a hearing that lasted all day Tuesday and throughout Thursday afternoon, said he doesn’t think he has “the power to take control” of the Department of Economic Opportunity under the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government.
“The law in Florida is without a shadow of a doubt clear that courts can’t tell executive agencies how to run their business,” Cooper said.
The judge acknowledged that the decision “is going to make a lot of people unhappy with me” but said he also hadn’t seen evidence about how the unemployment system could be fixed.
“We can’t even agree what fix means among the parties,” Cooper said Thursday.
Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last month and have raised a series of issues, including that the state and a contractor, Deloitte Consulting, were negligent in their handling of Florida’s CONNECT online unemployment system and breached a fiduciary duty. While Cooper denied the request for a preliminary injunction, the underlying lawsuit will continue.
The lawsuit came as people throughout the state ran into problems filing claims and getting payments after suddenly losing their jobs. At one point, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the CONNECT system, which started operating in 2013, as a “jalopy.”
In arguing for an injunction, plaintiffs’ attorneys contended that Cooper should order the department to quickly make changes to process and pay claims. During the hearing Tuesday, they presented witnesses who described frustrating efforts to navigate the system and receive payments.
“Gov. DeSantis said it best — this is a clunker,” plaintiffs’ attorney Marie Mattox said Thursday.
Daniel Nordby, an attorney for the Department of Economic Opportunity, said the agency has sympathy for people who are out of work and have faced challenges in getting unemployment benefits. But he raised a series of legal arguments opposing a preliminary injunction and said the agency has taken numerous steps to improve the system and pay claims.