Approximately 50 individuals of the 176000 impacted due to bonus check bone, says Florida Department of Education
TALLAHASSEE — A banking glitch in Florida led to the bouncing of bonus checks of at least 50 teachers in 22 different counties, reported Jared Ochs, a spokesperson from the Florida Department of Education.
According to reports, when thousands of teachers’ attempted to cash in their bonus checks of $1,000 issued by the state this week, they were left hapless as the checks issued by the state authorities were dishonored because of “insufficient funds”.
Owing to this dismally, JPMorgan Chase has pinned the blame of the incident on a “banking error”. It said that the state has not run out of money.
Allison Tobin Reed, the bank’s vice president of communications, in a statement to Times/Herald, said: “We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are working to correct it, including refunding any fees incurred by the recipients as a result.”
Reed also went on to state that the error did not impact the majority of the teachers and only triggered “a small number of people out of 176,000 payments made.” At present, it is however unclear that how long it will take for the educators to get access to their $1,000 bonuses.
Ochs also said that the impacted individuals have been identified and they have by now expedited the matter and are diligently working to correct this banking error expediently.
The $1,000 bonuses have received bipartisan support in the Florida Legislature and secure a prominent piece of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ legislative agenda.
Sen. Jason Pizzo took up the matter on Twitter earlier which brought the issue out in the public. He posted an image on Twitter stating one of the teacher’s “returned item notice” from the Jackson County Teachers Credit Union. The image showed the check had bounced for “not sufficient funds.” The teacher had received the notice on Tuesday. The Twitter post by Pizzo said, “Any Florida teachers out there whose bonus checks bounced?”
Senator Jason Pizzo
Soon after, Pizzo’s tweet got viral on the social platform following confirmation of the banking error by the state.
Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said the state should have made people aware of the issue before being called out about it on Twitter.
“If there hadn’t been any social media attention, how long would it have taken for them to tell us?” Driskell said. He also termed this matter as “embarrassing” – of how a check from the state governor’s signature gets bounced.
It is reported that the bounced check amount of $1,000 was the latest snafu over DeSantis’ handling of money that surfaced from federal Covid relief funding. This is said to be an act to score some odd political points.
As per reports, JP Morgan Chase has indicated they will be reimbursing all penalties and fees associated with this banking error.
