EDD backlog swells again

State’s unpaid unemployment claims have risen 34% in 3 weeks

In another blow to California workers, the backlog of unpaid unemployment claims is marching dramatically upward despite the state’s best efforts to break the bottleneck.

Unpaid claims have risen an astonishing 34% in three weeks and highlight ongoing problems at the state’s labor agency, which in September estimated it would erase the backlog by the end of January.

But the increasing logjam and ongoing revelations about fraudulent payments suggest it’s going to take longer to resolve the challenges facing the state Employment Development Department.

“It’s not surprising that the backlog is growing with all of the fraud and all the

payments to serial killers, rapists and convicts,” said state Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Republican from Northern California and a frequent critic of the EDD. “It’s terrible what’s happening to the workers and the average citizen. The people who really need help from the EDD are not being helped.”

The growing logjam comes as weekly unemployment claims have declined to their lowest point in nearly nine months. With new shutdowns in Southern California and the Bay Area, however, claims are expected to rise again.

An estimated 725,100 California workers were waiting for payments of backlogged unemployment claims last week, the EDD said.

That’s the highest the backlog has been in about a month. During the week ended on Nov. 11, the claims backlog was 542,100, the EDD reported. In the last week alone, the backlog has increased 17%.

The EDD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency took a two-week pause in processing claims in late September so it could reduce the backlog. And for a while, that appeared to be a successful strategy.

For six consecutive weeks, the agency reported that the number of unpaid claims had declined.

But for the last three weeks, the backlog of unpaid claims has increased, according to the EDD.

Unemployed workers have continued to complain of a glitchy website and an unresponsive call center. Those complaints have continued despite the EDD adding hundreds of workers and new technology designed to automate and streamline the claims process.

The most recent backlog of 725,100 consists of two categories:

• 363,000 claims by workers who filed a firsttime unemployment claim but have been waiting more than 21 days to receive their first payment or be told they don’t qualify for any benefits. These are officially known as initial claims.

• 362,100 claims by workers who received at least one payment but have been waiting more than 21 days to receive an additional payment or notification from the EDD that they don’t qualify for further payments. These are known as continuing claims.

The most recently reported backlog for initial unemployment claims is the highest it has been since Oct. 14, when the logjam totaled 402,800. And the continuing claims backlog is now at its highest level since Nov. 4, when the number was 594,300.

The backlog problem might wind up being just one of many problems to bedevil California’s beleaguered workers.

“The latest round of lockdowns this week will only bring more layoffs,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the EDD. “At some point, the state Legislature might realize the tradeoffs in the policies being pursued.”

The problems at the EDD have deep roots and the pending replacement of the soon-to-retire EDD director Sharon Hilliard might not heal the agency’s ailments, Nielsen warned.

Plus, it’s unclear that even sweeping recommendations to fix the EDD — such as those issued by a strike team appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom — are having any lasting effect, considering the new fraud woes and the rising backlogs.

“This is institutionalized incompetence,” Nielsen said.