How to File for Partial Unemployment in Florida

To file for partial unemployment in Florida, submit a Reemployment Assistance claim through the state’s Reconnect portal at reconnect.commerce.fl.gov, then request payment every two weeks and report your reduced earnings. The Florida Department of Commerce runs the program, and it pays the difference when your hours or wages drop through no fault of your own, up to a weekly maximum of $275 for as long as 12 weeks.¹ There is no separate partial claim form. You file the same initial application a fully unemployed worker files, and the system calculates a partial payment each week based on what you earned.²

Whether You Qualify

Partial benefits use the same eligibility test as full benefits, with one added condition: your weekly earnings, after the earnings disregard explained below, must fall below your weekly benefit amount.

You need to meet these baseline rules:

You earned wages in at least two of the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before filing. Your total base period wages must be at least $3,400 and at least 1.5 times the wages in your highest-earning quarter.³
You are physically able to work and available to accept additional or full-time work.
You are actively looking for work each week you claim, unless an exemption applies.³

The reduction in your hours has to be through no fault of your own. Workers who quit without good cause tied to the employer, or who were fired for misconduct, are disqualified.⁴

How Your Weekly Payment Is Calculated

Florida takes the wages from your highest-earning quarter in the base period and divides by 26. That figure, rounded down to the nearest dollar, is your weekly benefit amount (WBA). The minimum is $32 and the maximum is $275.⁵ For 2025 and 2026 claims, benefits are capped at 12 weeks, so the most you can collect on a single claim is $3,300.¹

You are allowed to earn a small amount each week before the state reduces your check. The statute lets you keep up to eight times the federal hourly minimum wage. With the federal minimum at $7.25, the disregard currently equals $58 per week. Every dollar you earn above $58 reduces your benefit dollar for dollar.⁵

An example. Suppose your highest quarter wages were $5,200, giving you a WBA of $200. In a week where you earn $108 from your reduced-hours job, the state subtracts $50 (the $108 minus the $58 disregard) from your $200 benefit, and you receive $150 for that week. If your earnings hit or exceed the WBA after the disregard, you get nothing for that week but your claim stays open.

What to Gather Before You Apply

Reconnect won’t save a half-finished application, so have everything ready before you sign in. You need:⁶

Your Social Security number.
Your Florida driver’s license or state ID number.
Employment history for the past 18 months, including each employer’s name (as shown on pay stubs), address, phone number, and Federal Employer Identification Number, plus your first and last day of work and the reason you stopped or had your hours cut.
Gross earnings from every employer over the past 18 months.
Bank account and routing numbers if you want direct deposit.
Military members: DD-214 (Member 2 or 4).
Federal employees: SF-8, SF-50, and your most recent W-2 or Leave and Earnings Statement.
Non-U.S. citizens: alien registration number or other work authorization documentation.

Filing Through Reconnect

Go to reconnect.commerce.fl.gov. If you have never filed in Florida, or you have not signed in since September 1, 2021, you’ll create a new account. The system runs identity verification through ID.me, which asks you to upload a photo ID (driver’s license, state ID, passport, or passport card) and enter your Social Security number.²

Check every field before you submit. Wrong employer names, dates, or wage figures can delay your claim or trigger a denial. Save the confirmation number the system generates. If you need to correct something on a claim you already submitted, call the customer service line at 1-833-FL-APPLY, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Unpaid Waiting Week

Florida makes you serve a one-week waiting period before benefits start. You serve it once per benefit year, and you are not paid for it.¹ If you reactivate the same claim later in the same benefit year, you don’t serve it again. This is what surprises most first-time filers: the first payment request covers two weeks, but only one of those weeks turns into a check.

Requesting Payment Every Two Weeks

Once your claim is set up, benefits are not automatic. You must request payment through Reconnect every two weeks. Miss a request window and you lose those weeks’ benefits.⁷

For each of the two weeks, the system asks you to confirm you were able and available for work, report all earnings, tips, and commissions from any employer, and log your work search contacts with the date, employer name, method of contact, contact information, type of work sought, and result.⁷

Report gross earnings for the week you did the work, not the week the paycheck arrived. If you worked Monday through Wednesday of week one and were not paid until week two, those earnings belong to week one. This trips people up constantly, and misreporting the timing is exactly the kind of mistake that gets flagged as an overpayment later.

Work Search Requirements

You have to search for work each week you claim, even while you are still working reduced hours. How many contacts you need depends on your county:⁸

Counties with 75,000 or more residents: at least five work search contacts per week, or one CareerSource service appointment.
Counties with fewer than 75,000 residents: at least three contacts per week, or one CareerSource appointment.

Applying for jobs online or in person, responding to Employ Florida postings, interviewing, registering with staffing agencies, and visiting your local CareerSource center all count. Log the details for every contact. A vague entry like “searched online” without a specific employer will not satisfy the requirement.

A few groups are exempt from work search, including workers on temporary layoff with a set recall date, union members who find work only through a hiring hall, and participants in the Short-Time Compensation program.³

Ask Your Employer About Short-Time Compensation

If your employer cut your hours rather than laying you off, ask whether they run a Short-Time Compensation (STC) plan. STC is a separate, employer-initiated program: the company files a plan with FloridaCommerce covering a group of workers whose hours have been reduced, and the state pays a partial benefit through that plan instead of through an individual claim.⁹

Under STC, the employer must reduce normal weekly hours by at least 10 percent but no more than 40 percent. At least 10 percent of the affected workforce, and no fewer than two employees, must take part. You must be a full-time employee; part-time and seasonal workers are not eligible. While on the plan you have to work every scheduled hour your employer assigns, and you skip the independent job search requirement.⁹

If Your Claim Is Denied

You have the right to appeal a denial. Your determination notice gives you the deadline for filing a protest, and late appeals are almost never accepted. File through Reconnect or through the link on the notice. The Office of Appeals then schedules a hearing before an appeals referee, and you and your employer receive a Notice of Hearing specifying whether it will be in person or by phone. Bring your evidence and witnesses; the hearing is your chance to make your case on the record.¹⁰

Why Accurate Reporting Matters

Underreporting earnings is the fastest way to turn a partial claim into a serious problem. If you are overpaid because of an honest error, you have to repay the benefits, though the department may waive recovery if you received the money without fault and repayment would be inequitable. If the department finds fraud, you owe the full overpayment plus a 15 percent penalty, and the state can deduct from future benefits, file a civil action, or intercept your federal tax refund.¹¹ Filing a false claim is also a third-degree felony under Florida law, and each false statement counts as a separate offense.¹² When in doubt about whether to report something, report it.

1
FloridaCommerce. Claimant FAQ
2
FloridaCommerce. Apply for Benefits
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 443.091 – Conditions for Eligibility
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 443.101 – Disqualification for Benefits
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 443.111 – Payment of Benefits
6
FloridaCommerce. What Information and Documents Do I Need to Have Ready Before Applying
7
FloridaCommerce. Request Benefit Payment
8
FloridaCommerce. Work Search Requirements
9
FloridaCommerce. Short-Time Compensation Program for Employees
10
FloridaCommerce. Right to Appeal
11
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 443.151 – Procedure
12
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 443.071 – Penalties