Unemployment benefits in California: for how long will they stop and when can I claim again?
California will not be accepting new unemployment claims for the next two weeks as massive allegations of fraud have been found amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the next two weeks California will not be accepting new unemployment claims because the state is striving to prevent fraud from people who are still working but also claiming the extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits as part of President Trump’s executive order signed last month.
Reduce backlog and fraud claims
Many people in the Golden State are living off their credit cards and the California Employment Development Department (EDD) stated that they need at least two weeks to “tackle fraud and reduce their backlog” to help the people that really need the money during the outbreak.
“We do suspect that a big part of the unusual rise in PUA claims is linked to fraud. The state was investigating unscrupulous attacks and exploiting identity theft and vulnerabilities in the system,” said Loree Levy, a spokesperson for the California EDD.
On Saturday officials found that roughly 600,000 workers have still not received benefits they applied for three weeks ago when California was approved for Trump’s executive order unemployment benefit money. Another one million people in California stopped getting the extra weekly payment for several reasons and are waiting for the EDD to resolve issues and restore their payments.
EDD system is outdated
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the EDD to realize that their system is archaic and is so slow that it prevents them from speeding up the process.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom decided to stop giving unemployment money when 21 inmates in San Mateo County jail filed for the Covid-19 assistant and all got at least $25,000.