EDD asks some California recipients to prove work history
About one million Californians who got unemployment payments from the pandemic-related federal benefit program now have to prove they had a prior work history or possibly pay back the money.
California’s unemployment fraud reaches at least $20 billion
State officials blamed nearly all of that fraud on a hastily approved expansion of unemployment benefits by Congress that let people who were self-employed get weekly checks from the government with few safeguards to stop people from getting benefits who were not eligible to receive them.
California hiring slows in September; jobless rate at 7.5%
In California, new coronavirus cases are at their lowest point since the start of the pandemic, schools have fully reopened and the more generous unemployment benefits from the federal government have expired — all signs of what should have been a robust economic recovery in September.
New California laws aim to combat fraud in jobless benefits
Gov. Newsom signed a law requiring the California prison system to share the names and Social Security numbers of inmates with EDD.
California trio files $2M in fake EDD claims to buy Audi, new home
A California inmate and his wife, a nurse, were allegedly part of a scheme that bilked the California EDD for $2 million in fake claims.
Laid-off Tesla employee frustrated with EDD, hires bot to make calls
Desmond Sylva, 39, was so frustrated about reaching the Employment Development Department to find out why he wasn't getting his unemployment check after being laid off as a Tesla production associate in Fremont, he hired a bot.
California agency bungled COVID-19 funds for homeless: audit
After receiving $316 million under the federal CARES Act to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on unhoused people, the California Department of Housing and Community Development “did not take critical steps to ensure those funds promptly benefited that population,” the state auditor’s office said.
Frustrated by EDD? Here's where you can go for help
State senators and assembly members have already become one of the few ways that unemployed people can get through to EDD. But does the typical Californian know that they can turn to their legislator for help?
California EDD can't freeze unemployment checks, must 'pay now' during eligibility investigations
As a result of a class action lawsuit, the EDD must now stop its policy of freezing benefits for people whose existing claims have eligibility questions and instead continue sending checks while they investigate the problem.
California inmates stole $1.4M in unemployment benefits, feds say
Federal officials said the two inmates worked from their respective correctional facilities at Kern Valley State Prison and California Correctional Institute in coordination with someone on the outside to submit false unemployment claims.
Louisiana residents took $1M in COVID funds from California
More than 100 false claims to California’s Employment Development Department netted $1 million for eight people, and five of them also got more than $60,000 that they weren’t due from the Louisiana Workforce Commission, officials said.
Ex-Aryan Brotherhood leader charged with California EDD fraud
Prosecutors allege that the men, who had met in prison, bilked mainly homeless people or transients who were living off Social Security or disability payments by pretending to counsel them.
EDD fraud: 2 USPS employees in LA accused of stealing hundreds of thousands in unemployment benefits
Two USPS employees, Christian Jeremyah James and Armand Caleb Legardy, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to federal criminal charges accusing them of unlawfully buying and cashing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of postal money orders with unemployment benefits fraudulently obtained with false claims of COVID-related job losses.
52 weeks into EDD unemployment benefits: Make sure you click ‘new claim’
EDD claimants are learning that when a year's worth of claims have been collected, they're terminated unless they jump through a bureaucratic hoop. EDD says it was just a glitch.
3 women charged with illegally obtaining over $1.2M in unemployment benefits in names of inmates
Three Inland Empire women were arrested and charged this week for illegally obtaining COVID-related unemployment benefits in names of prison inmates and scamming the California Employment Development Department out of a combined $1.2 million, federal prosecutors allege.
Incarcerated California woman, accomplice accused of stealing more than $100K in EDD benefits
Officials say the state has paid at least $11 billion in benefits to people whose identities it has been unable to verify, which they say is likely fraud. Of that, $810 million was tied to ineligible prisoners.
California auditor says EDD likely has paid out $10.4B in fraudulent claims so far
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the agency was slow to react to warnings of an increase in fraudulent claims, saying this inaction cost the state billions as criminals exposed weaknesses in the system.
More than 800K California EDD claims paid out more than 21 days after filing: auditor
Auditor Elaine Howle told the governor that as a result, more than 800,000 people waited longer than 21 days—EDD's measure of how quickly it should process a claim—to receive their first benefit payments.
Criminal rings loot billions in California jobless funds
Criminal rings stole over $11 billion in unemployment benefits from California last year and nearly $20 billion more is considered suspicious.
California sees suspicious surge in unemployment claims
California is reporting a surge in coronavirus unemployment claims last week for independent contractors, gig workers and the self-employed — the category of benefits blamed for much of the state’s fraudulent payments.