Given the unprecedented volume of unemployment insurance claims during the federal disaster—approximately 20 million claims compared to 3.8 million during the Great Recession—EDD took action to speed payments to eligible claimants whenever possible. For example, EDD launched in July 2021 a Condition...
Given the unprecedented volume of unemployment insurance claims during the federal disaster—approximately 20 million claims compared to 3.8 million during the Great Recession—EDD took action to speed payments to eligible claimants whenever possible. For example, EDD launched in July 2021 a Conditional Payment Program to speed payments to claimants who certified for benefits and already received at least one week of benefits in the past but whose payments were later pending for more than two weeks. EDD also boosted its capacity to process workloads, prioritized timely payments, and employed automation among other measures.
As reported in Reference Number 2020-006 in fiscal year 2019-2020, EDD began automatically cross-matching EDD wage records and Franchise Tax Board records in November 2020 to assist in verifying the income of PUA claimants who could not be automatically verified through these procedures. Such claimants were required to submit additional documentation to EDD for a manual review.
Regarding the manual processing of the income documents to substantiate the PUA weekly benefit amounts that have been increased above the minimum California WBA of $167, and the verification of employment or self-employment substantiation (known in California as “Self-employment/Employment Substantiation” or “SEES”), on February 6, 2024, in accordance with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Unemployment Insurance Program Letter 05-24, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) identified that the processing of PUA income documents and the SEES workloads must be considered resolved due to California’s finality laws. The EDD is prohibited by law from resolving these items by California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1376, which provides that EDD cannot establish overpayments more than one year after the close of the benefit year in which the overpayment was made unless the overpayment is found to be a result of fraud, misrepresentation, or willful nondisclosure. Given that there is no fraud or fault on the part of the individuals identified in these populations, EDD is unable to take the required actions to resolve the workload due to California’s finality law provisions. EDD is expecting a response from DOL agreeing with the application of California’s finality laws to the PUA income verification and the SEES workloads.
Estimated Implementation Date: Upon DOL response, to be determined
Contact: Diane Underwood, Division Chief
Unemployment Insurance Branch
California Employment Development Department