SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's Employment Development Department, which processes unemployment claims says it won't be accepting new claims for two weeks. EDD announced in a news release that it has to update its systems to be able to process claims faster.
The two-week reset started Saturday and will go until October 4.
According to EDD, the changes will not cause payment delays and should allow them to pay customers sooner by verifying identities "in an easier, faster way."
New applications will be accepted starting Oct. 5 and backdated to cover the "reset" period. Click here to be notified when EDD starts accepting new unemployment claims online.
The EDD Strike Team released its report on Saturday about how the department will update the systems to be more modern and how it will improve response times. Thousands of Californias have complained about a lack of response from EDD to process their claims.
As of September 16, the EDD had a backlog of 591,016 new unemployment insurance claims and over a million continued claims, according to the EDD.
The reset will accomplish two goals, according to the EDD:
- Prevent fraud by implementing a new identity verification tool that will make the application process stronger. People will have to upload photos and documents to prove it's them.
- Reduce the backlog by adding new staff to specifically respond to emails and mail. The goal is to have no backlog by January.
"While the issues identified are the start of a journey to reset EDD and bring about significant changes to process, systems, and culture, the work of the strike team marks a key turning point to re-focus and re-center the provision of unemployment insurance for the good of all Californians," said Julie A. Su, California Labor Secretary in the news release.
EDD Director Sharon Hilliard said she agrees with the recommendations from the strike team and have already implemented some of them.
EDD says the only people impacted by this reset will be people trying to apply for benefits for the first time. Californians who have existing claims will still be able to use their accounts to manage existing claims.
Hilliard said that the EDD improvements will expand the document upload feature for mobile users, allow people to provide wage information, file military and federal employee claims online and implement new measurements to track claims processing work daily.
"We are in this for the long haul. The strike teams’ recommendations provide an opportunity to pivot and improve our systems with a priority of delivering on the Governor’s vision of innovative government systems that prioritize the customer experience, informed by data and great expertise," said Hilliard.
Read the full EDD assessment here.
Read the strike team's recommendations here.
Read Director Hilliard's letter to Governor Newsom here.