We Secured Unemployment Benefits for 13,000 Californians

The Center for Workers’ Rights scored an important victory for 13,000 workers in California who were improperly disqualified from obtaining unemployment benefits from the Employment Development Department (EDD) during the Coronavirus pandemic.
 
In the past several weeks, we received dozens of calls from unemployment benefit applicants after the EDD informed them that they were disqualified from receiving benefits without providing further explanation or the ability to challenge the decision. The Center for Workers’ Rights determined that these applicants were eligible for benefits, but EDD had failed to clear disqualifications from prior unemployment insurance applications from the claimant’s account. 
 
The Center for Workers’ Rights collected claimant information as well as information from other legal services organizations who identified people facing the same issue. We advocated to the EDD to create a universal remedy for all those workers experiencing an unexplained disqualification. Yesterday, the Center for Workers’ Rights learned that EDD has now implemented a new process, which not only cleared the unlawful disqualifications from the claimants we identified, but 13,000 claimants who experienced this issue statewide.   
 
“This is an example of why legal service organizations have a critical role to play in identifying common problems, and advocating for change to the appropriate legal authorities,” said Center for Workers’ Rights’ Director Daniela Urban. “We were able to inform the EDD of a glitch in their system. As a result, they fixed it, and now these Californians are receiving the benefits they deserve.”
 
The Center for Workers’ Rights is committed to making sure workers in Sacramento have information about how the Coronavirus outbreak might affect their jobs and income. Since March, the Center for Workers’ Rights has operated a Coronavirus Job Protection Helpline to assist workers whose jobs have been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The helpline is open from Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at (916) 905-1625.