EDD: 1.4M fraud cases and one month to fix

Some jobless workers whose accounts were originally flagged are forced to restart their claims from scratch

California’s 1.4 million unemployment fraud cases could require one month to resolve, a key state lawmaker says, in a grim revelation that brings fresh pain to California workers reeling from an unprecedented numbers of layoffs amid the coronavirus.

The state Employment Development Department’s quest to combat fraud woes in its program to pay jobless claims has also forced some California workers to restart jobless claims from scratch after their accounts were flagged for possible fraud, creating even more challenges for people who have lost their jobs while the deadly bug rages on.

EDD officials, in a discussion with state Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, have sketched out a timeline for resolving the status of the 1.4 million unemployment claims that the EDD says could be connected to fraudulent activity. Payment on the claims has been suspended while the fraud investigation continues.

California workers might have to wait a month for payments to resume if their benefits were suspended due to concerns the accounts were linked to fraud.

“It could take up to a month after people verify their I.D.,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “Hopefully it can get done within 30 days.”

For some workers, a severe new kind of problem has suddenly emerged. Anthony Sanfilippo, a San Jose resident, said he was notified on Dec. 31 by the EDD that his account was connected to possible fraud. That unsettling communique from the EDD was just the start of his problems, though.

Sanfilippo became particularly alarmed when the EDD notified him that he was obliged to successfully verify his identity and clear the fraud concerns within 10 days — or he would be forced to submit a brand-new unemployment claim and start from the beginning.

The EDD, Sanfilippo said, urged him almost

every day to be patient. The EDD promised that he would soon receive all the instructions needed to verify his identity. By Jan. 6, by Jan. 8, by Jan. 14, the instructions would arrive, the EDD assured Sanfilippo.

Those instructions never did arrive, he said. Then, late Sunday night, Jan. 10 — on the last of the 10 days — Sanfilippo was told at the EDD site that he had to file a new claim, to start all over

again, he said.

Sanfilippo, who was working in the logistics business when he was laid off, now receives nothing from the EDD. His payments were significant: $450 a week, the highest amount allowed under California rules.

This predicament galls Sanfilippo, who notes that he and countless other California workers aren’t being paid, even though the EDD issued fraudulent payments to state prisoners such as convicted doublekiller Scott Peterson. Investigators are discovering a widening number of fraud problems linked to EDD unemployment benefits.

“I wish the EDD was just inept, that would explain all of this,” Sanfilippo said. “This is more of a knee-jerk reaction to paying off prisoners like Scott Peterson. All they care about is fraud. They don’t care about individual workers.”

To make matters worse for the EDD, the state agency is wrestling with a mammoth backlog of unpaid jobless claims.

Plus, a broken call center and glitch-hobbled webpage have snarled the EDD’s

efforts to pay legitimate claims filed by California workers who have lost their jobs.

“This is a multi-level problem for California workers,” said Gonzalez. “It’s got to be frustrating for them.”

Probes of the EDD’s woes and blunders could occur this year if the state Legislature holds oversight hearings regarding the state agency’s actions.

The EDD didn’t respond to a request from this news organization to comment about the situation.

Gonzalez could play a key role in EDD oversight. She

is the chair of the powerful state Assembly Appropriations Committee.

“The EDD will have to answer a lot of questions come budget time,” Gonzalez said. “I’m just frustrated. I really want to encourage the EDD to start being very transparent with people.”

The reality, however, is quite different for numerous workers such as Sanfilippo.

“The EDD has taken it from bad to worse,” Sanfilippo said. “Now it’s a dumpster fire.”