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California’s Unemployment System Still Unfit a Year Later The state’s Employment Development Department is still flooded with unprocessed benefits claims, millions of dollars worth of fraudulent applications and decades-old problems that continue to slow the process. Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times | January 29, 2021 | Analysis
(TNS) Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, California s beleaguered unemployment benefits system remains mired in dysfunction, leaving many jobless workers in dire straits after their efforts to receive financial assistance have been stymied by jammed phone lines, overwhelmed staff and failed technology.
Millions of out-of-work Californians are still waiting for money they desperately need to feed and clothe their families and avoid ending up on the streets. Payments have instead gone to fulfill fraudulent claims filed in the names of prison inmates, infants, retirees and
A year into pandemic, California’s broken unemployment agency still hurting those in need [Los Angeles Times]
Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s beleaguered unemployment benefits system remains mired in dysfunction, leaving many jobless workers in dire straits after their efforts to receive financial assistance have been stymied by jammed phone lines, overwhelmed staff and failed technology.
Millions of out-of-work Californians are still waiting for money they desperately need to feed and clothe their families and avoid ending up on the streets. Payments have instead gone to fulfill fraudulent claims filed in the names of prison inmates, infants, retirees and people living in other states, with a deluge of applications for benefits coming from criminal gangs operating in Russia, China and Nigeria.
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“EDD has for years been aware of many of the problems in its [unemployment insurance] claims processing and customer assistance efforts that this report identifies,” said the first audit report released Tuesday. “Nonetheless, EDD did not take adequate steps to address these deficiencies.”
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A second report released Thursday concluded that “EDD did not take substantive action to bolster its fraud detection efforts for its UI program until months into the pandemic.”
The EDD’s failure to heed warnings to address its vulnerability to fraud has hamstrung its ability to get money out to those filing legitimate unemployment claims, state lawmakers say. More than 2.1 million claims for unemployment benefits are currently on hold, stuck in a backlog of delayed applications or suspended while the EDD double checks identities to prevent fraud.