California resumes processing jobless claims

EDD launches new computer system aimed at chipping away at mammoth unpaid backlog

The state labor agency has resumed processing unemployment claims, ending a two-week pause that was launched to help cope with a mammoth backlog of jobless applications in California.

California workers have filed at least 8.8 million initial claims for unemployment benefits since mid

March, when state and local government agencies imposed wide-ranging business shutdowns to combat the coronavirus.

The Employment Development Department said

Tuesday the resumption of claims processing came with the start of a new high-tech system to verify identifies at the beginning of the process to apply for unemployment benefits.

The EDD is attempting to assess the performance of the automated system.

The backlog of California workers awaiting resolution of their applications for unemployment benefits — a group that includes, in some cases, workers who have been waiting weeks or even months for their first payments — is nearly 1.6 million.

The latest estimates from the EDD reveal big backlogs in two major categories, as of Sept. 30:

• 1.02 million people have received a single pay

ment but now have been forced to wait more than 21 days to receive a second payment or be disqualified from receiving any more benefits.

• 542,000 people have filed a claim but have been forced to wait more than 21 days to either receive the first payment or be notified that they don’t qualify for any jobless benefits.

That results in a total backlog of 1.56 million California workers, as of Sept.

30.

The actual first step for the EDD’s resumption of unemployment claims was last Thursday with a “soft launch” of the new ID.me technology to bolster the unemployment insurance online system.

“During that soft launch, we sent emails and text messages to the total of

136,000 individuals who had signed up for EDD notifications, inviting them back into UI Online to submit their new application for benefits,” said Loree Levy, a spokesperson for the state EDD.