EDD backlog and fraud timeline: How we got here
The problems with California s Unemployment Department date back farther than just 2020 Share Updated: 10:40 AM PST Feb 12, 2021 David Manoucheri
The problems with California s Unemployment Department date back farther than just 2020 Share Updated: 10:40 AM PST Feb 12, 2021
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Show Transcript okay. It has been said that there is no honor among thieves. And there is no better example of this than the massive a d D. Fraud that is occurring within our jails in our prisons here in California. Okay, tens of thousands of inmates, local stay and federal institutions all involved every type of inmate that you could conceivably think of murderers doing life or life without the possibility of parole rapist serving hundreds of years of a sentence or perhaps life as well. Child molesters, serial killers and other murderers sitting on California s death row. Hundreds of millions of dol
Had the official response to COVID-19 been error-free, it still would be having devastating, life-altering effects on California.
However, management â mostly by Gov. Gavin Newsom â has been erratic at best and bumbling at worst, thus magnifying the pandemicâs impact on 40 million Californians and quite likely costing human lives.
The Employment Development Departmentâs mangled delivery of unemployment insurance benefits is one spectacular example â handing out billions of dollars to fraudsters while amassing a huge backlog of legitimate claims.
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Last week, Newsom indirectly acknowledged his administrationâs equally bollixed management of lifesaving vaccines by turning it over to two big health care organizations, Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente.
Representatives from EDD and Bank of America addressed a State Assembly hearing to shed light on the scope of fraud within California s unemployment program.
Assembly Bill 74: From Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego). Provides claimants with the option to receive their unemployment payments (as well as disability and paid family leave) via direct deposit. Currently, California is only one of three states that do not provide direct deposit; instead, the state is contracted with Bank of America to send payments to a debit card. However, complaints have mounted that Bank of America has failed to protect its cardholders, leaving them vulnerable to fraud, and to having their accounts frozen by the bank if they detect suspicious activity leaving cardholders without access to their funds as they try to navigate the bank s appeals process.