California lawmakers agitated against employment agency for slow payouts
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers accused the leader of the state’s unemployment department of failing the public in a tense hearing Thursday that featured stories of people waiting weeks or months to receive their benefits after losing their jobs because of the pandemic.
More than 1.2 million claims, about a fifth of all applications, haven’t been paid out, either because the applicants haven’t taken the right steps or they are ineligible, said Sharon Hilliard, head of the Employment Development Department. It will take until September to process about 239,000 of those that are mostly ready to go but backlogged, she said.
“It’s difficult to say this as someone who generally believes in government’s ability to help, but EDD has been failing California,” said Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu. “Our constituents are depleting their life savings, going into extreme debt, having trouble paying rent and putting food on the table.”
The coronavirus pandemic caused millions of Californians to lose their jobs starting in March, and the state has paid out $55 billion, including federal dollars, across 9.3 million claims, Hilliard said. Applications skyrocketed by more than 3,000% from March to May compared to January and February, according to the agency.
The hearing came a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new “strike team” to improve the department. The agency has already spent millions contracting with outside vendors to improve its technology and provide more call center workers. By October, it plans to award a contract to completely redo its information technology system, a timeline lawmakers said wasn’t nearly quick enough.
Chiu accused Hilliard of lying to the public about the unemployment data, another lawmaker said she had no faith in Hilliard or the agency, and members of the public called the state services “abominable” and suggested Hilliard be fired. Some who called in for public comment say they still haven’t received any payment.
Hilliard defended the battered agency. She told lawmakers the agency has hired or redirected thousands of workers and plans to bring on more. She said common reasons payments are delayed is because the state needs more information to verify the applicant’s identity or conduct a wage investigation.
“We remain laser focused on those claims that require additional action. Our staffers care deeply about the livelihood of our neighbors and our communities, which is why we continue to work round-the-clock in a committed effort to evolve our operations,” Hilliard said.
A call center that can handle questions around specific claims has just 100 people working from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., she said. The rest of the calls go through a line open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. that can handle more basic calls. It takes on average four to six weeks for people to get a call back, Hilliard said.
The agency is working to merge the call centers and train more workers to handle complex calls to eliminate the need for call backs, Hilliard said. But she could not give a timeline for when that would happen despite repeated questions from Democratic Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris. Other lawmakers said it was unacceptable that so few workers are able to answer questions about claims over the phone.