As Miami-Dade County businesses prepare for more changes some employees are bracing for potential layoffs.
“We went down to logistics and moved things around to see how we are all going to be able to survive through this,” Michael Pena said.
Pena works with La Bodeguita restaurant in Hialeah. He says the business is anticipating changes due to Miami-Dade County’s latest executive order expected to halt dine-in service at restaurants starting Thursday.
On Tuesday night, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez signed the executive order, which also states that on-site dining at restaurants and cafeterias is limited to outdoor service only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day.
One of the biggest changes will be reduced hours and possible layoffs for the staff.
“There are some people who are going to go for unemployment because this doesn’t make sense for them they live off of tips,” Pena said.
Local
But, as more people face the possibility of needing unemployment benefits, there are still people waiting for benefits to kick in.
“I have a claim number and everyone says oh that is great, but i can not pay my bills with a claim number,” Joe Cancellare said.
Cancellare says he filed an unemployment claim back in March, and in April his claim status changed to pending-submitted.
“Nothing, nothing, nothing, just the run around,” Cancellare said.
According to the latest numbers from Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity, there are 177,128 claims in the verification process still waiting to be processed.
Cancellare says despite calling and emailing the DEO asking for help he is still waiting.
“I’m really at a loss, and i do consider myself a problem solver, but i have never been through anything like this,” Cancellare said.
The DEO is reporting 97% of eligible claimants have started receiving benefits.
