Department of Labor rejects request to extend application period for unemployment benefits

County commissioners got word last week that the US Department of Labor has denied Franklin county’s request for an extension so that local people could apply for unemployment benefits.

The board last October approved a letter to the federal agency asking for an extension of the deadline to apply for disaster unemployment assistance because of Tropical Storm Debbie.

The request was made to help local oyster workers who have been financially hit because of the poor state of the oyster crop in the Apalachicola Bay.

The benefits were initially made available after Tropical Storm Debbie hit Franklin County last June.

The county used a Department of Agriculture report that there are no oysters in the bay as a basis for the extension request.

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