The California Employment Development Department has finally lifted a statewide freeze on unemployment benefits, officials announced on Thursday.
Over 100,000 Californians with eligibility questions on existing claims have been waiting for the EDD to pay them their unemployment benefits. Their prayers were ultimately answered when the EDD released a statement vowing to pay people whose issues they could not resolve within two weeks.
"We know many claimants who cleared fraud filters and verified identity have been waiting too long for payment," said EDD Director Rita Saenz. "In response, we are launching a new program that will help many Californians get benefits faster."
The new program is known as "conditional pay."
"What EDD is doing is that instead of waiting to pay benefits while they look into a continued eligibility issue, they will actually be paying the claimants while they investigate these issues," Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights explained to KXTV.
The EDD specified in Thursday’s statement that any benefit paid during the investigation period will be an overpayment if the department later determines that the person did not meet the eligibility requirements.
This overpayment may be waived if the recipient is facing financial hardship and was not involved in unemployment fraud.
In December, the EDD froze 1.4 million accounts to combat fraud concerns, leaving hundreds of thousands without unemployment benefits, the station reported.
Related
