EDD asserts gains in serving jobless

SACRAMENTO — California’s unemployment insurance agency, after stumbling in the aftermath of the Great Recession, is making strides toward improving service to the jobless, the program’s director told members of a state Senate oversight committee.

“We are meeting the service goals” despite old computers and a still-inadequate phone service, said Patrick W. Henning Jr., director of the Employment Development Department. Money to pay for more than 400 new staff “enables us to be better prepared to provide assistance in the next economic downturn,” he said.

In testimony before the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on Wednesday, Henning said he’s working to further boost service with more Internetbased communications, including via smartphones.

“We need to get ahead of the curve,” he told the panel. “Prior to my getting appointed, there was a lot of calamity. We need to provide an unemployment insurance program that is ready for the next downturn.”

Key to creating a 21st century service to the jobless is getting “a better, more robust computer system,” the director said. Until then, “we are doing the best that we can with what we have,” and “what we are rolling out will get us to better service.”

Henning took over the troubled EDD with a staff of 10,000 people a year ago with a mandate from Gov. Jerry Brown to end long delays in the delivery of benefits of up to $450 a week. The EDD bureaucracy at the time was struggling to deal with a software glitch in its antiquated computer system as well as a phone system that automatically hung up on most callers.

The outdated equipment was being hammered by a huge demand from many of California’s then-1.3 million jobless workers. The agency paid out more than $40 billion in benefits in 2010 and 2011 alone.

The state’s unemployment rate — 4.8% before the recession — ballooned to a high of 12.4%. It fell to 7% in December 2014.

Over the last few years, tens of thousands of frustrated Californians still found it nearly impossible to reach a state claims worker by telephone. On top of that, a significant glitch in a fall 2013 computer modernization project delayed payments needed for housing, food and gasoline.

Since then, the EDD has hired hundreds of new staffers and improved service, Henning said. The agency now answers 50,000 phone calls a week, processes 100% of initial claims within three days of receipt and handles online inquiries within five days of receipt, he said.

In the meantime, the EDD recently reported that as of last year it was answering 60% of phone calls, up from only 11% six months earlier.

But the department’s troubles over the past few years went beyond subpar technology. About half the agency’s denials of unemployment benefits that are appealed are reversed by judges. The department subsequently has tightened reviews but still needs to be more careful about denying applications, the state auditor reported.

Another looming problem is an insolvent state unemployment insurance fund, said Mark Newton of the Legislative Analyst’s Office.