Gov. Rick Scott is calling for the board of directors at two regional job centers to schedule emergency meetings to deal with allegations that the agencies inflated the number of job placements reported to state officials.
Scott’s letter comes after The Tampa Bay Times asked the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity about whether CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay improperly boosted their job placement numbers by claiming credit for people they hadn’t assisted. The DEO then expanded its investigation to include Florida’s other 22 CareerSource boards. The agency said it plans to review policies at all boards.
Federal and state lawmakers have called on Congress and the Florida House of Representatives to investigate whether the two regional workforce centers inflated the number of people they helped find jobs.