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Californians whose unemployment benefits expired late last year before a federal cut must now wait until March before they can even apply for an extension, state officials told lawmakers on Friday.
Even though the federal government extended benefits on Dec. 27, just a day after they expired, the California Department of Employment Development said a scheduling issue prevented it from immediately reinstating benefits for people whose benefits were sold out by December 26. emails, texts and letters next week to inform those affected that they must certify their benefits as of March 7.
“I’m just appalled,” State Senator Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park said. “A lot of people will get a letter out of the blue saying, ‘We can’t treat you until March 7.’ Californians rely on the benefits for food and shelter, and now this group will have to wait (at least) two and a half months. “
The revelation is the latest in a string of missteps at EDD, which has struggled to pay claims to an unprecedented wave of jobless people during the pandemic, while losing at least $ 11 billion and possibly up to $ 30 billion for the benefit of fraudsters. State lawmakers on Thursday proposed a series of bills to reform the ailing agency.
In December, EDD also froze 1.4 million accounts to guard against fraud, an action that swept away many legitimate applicants. Over time, it has informed people whose accounts are frozen that they must go online to verify their identity. Many people whose benefits ceased in December may have thought they were part of the fraud-related freeze, instead of the newly revealed issue with stale federal funds.
“The roadblock to get money to massive amounts of people who desperately need it is the same old problem – dinosaur technology,” said Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno.
Those affected by the latest disclosures were unemployed under two programs created under the federal Cares Act. Many received a benefit created under the law called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which covered self-employed workers normally ineligible for unemployment insurance. Others were receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Benefit, which provides up to 13 weeks of additional federal benefits to laid-off employees who have exhausted their regular state unemployment benefits. State unemployment benefits end after 36 weeks in California.
EDD detailed the issues in a phone call Friday with lawmakers, as well as in an email to lawmakers reviewed by The Chronicle. He sent out a press release on Friday night discussing the December benefit extension that did not acknowledge the long delay.
“We’re all so exhausted from EDD’s deluge of bad news, and this Friday night news adds insult to injury,” Assembly member David Chiu, D-San Francisco said. “I don’t know how EDD can imagine that people can just go without income for months at a time.”
Those who will experience this gap are people who ran out of PUA or PEUC before Dec. 26, EDD said in the email.
“EDD worked on the programming necessary to essentially establish new claims incorporating up to 11 additional weeks of benefits payable for the weeks beginning December 27,” the letter said.
It is not known how many Californians are affected. Between 750,000 and 1.6 million state residents were receiving PUA and PEUC in December, according to two external analyzes. The California Policy Lab estimated that number at 750,000, while the Century Foundation estimated it at 1.6 million. However, not all of these people will have to wait until March, only those whose benefits had lapsed before December 26.
EDD’s Friday email to lawmakers said it had completed the “first phase” of adding new benefits for those who still had time left on their claims by Dec. 26. This implied that these people may not have benefited from December 26 until very recently.
Becker said his office was working with a separate group of people who had funds in their account on December 26, but had closed their accounts because the original Cares Act had expired. These people should have had their accounts automatically reopened and extended, but many did not.
“We help them reopen their claims and get their benefits paid,” he said.
On December 24, EDD issued a press release stating that it was preparing for the extension of the two Cares Act unemployment programs. The agency “cannot implement the new programs until it receives guidance from the US Department of Labor … outlining how states will be required to follow the law,” he wrote. “However, EDD is making adjustments to the program based on the information available. So, when federal guidelines and details become available, EDD can complete the programming necessary to make these new benefits available as soon as possible.
Congress extended the benefits by adding 11 weeks to PUA, allowing people to receive it for up to 57 weeks. He also extended the PEUC by 11 weeks, giving it up to 24 weeks in total.
The agency took stock of the 1.4 million applications it suspended in December due to fraud concerns. He said 367,749 applicants were successful in verifying their identity and nearly all of them had payments processed, after the agency took another 7-10 days to verify other eligibility requirements. About 200,000 people were told they had been disqualified and asked to appeal or complete a new questionnaire, while 100,000 more received paper identity verification requests because they had no credentials. online accounts.
The agency will again send an email and text message to those affected to tell them they need to verify their identity. Those who do not respond will be disqualified and informed of their appeal rights, he said.
Carolyn Said is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @csaid
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