Written by Justin Culetu
Since the start of the New Year, millions of Californians have had their unemployment claims cut off by the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Due to a fraudulent claim investigation, the EDD has temporarily suspended payment for over 1.4 million unemployment claims and suspended 2 million accounts, leaving those who are actually unemployed struggling to get by. In the midst of a pandemic that has left millions unemployed, this is not an ideal situation.
Last Wednesday, the EDD started to send individuals a link to ID.me by email or through their UI online accounts allowing them to provide documentation of identity, and speed up the process. It is recommended to keep an eye out for this message for the next few days and to not ignore a message from the EDD that includes: “If no official response is received, claims will be canceled.”
According to California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the timeline she received from the EDD declares that it may take until the 14th of January for them to receive the verification information from the suspended accounts, but will likely take more than a month to actually have the benefits cleared, leaving millions of unemployed Californians without aid until then. No information about why authorized claims got flagged and suspended has been given by the EDD.
For information on how to verify suspended accounts, click here.
During this pandemic, the importance of local government efficiency has been put on display in many incidents over the past months. The main takeaway from these events is that an individual should be in control of their own life, and the government is not meant to be fully relied on during times of crisis. As shown by the EDD and the state government, failures in government response are inevitable and millions of already struggling citizens in San Diego and all over the state now have to pay the consequences for problems caused by the state legislature and Gov. Newsom.
Photo by Andrew Nixon/CapRadio
