Unemployment Benefits in California
unemployment benefits in California: After somebody loses their job things can get tough after all everyone has bills to pay,
California's unemployment insurance program is meant to give a financial helping hand to individuals
while they look for a new job, if you are just fired or laid off from your job are you allowed to file for unemployment benefits in California.
what if you quit that job. this article is the ultimate guide where I will cover the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits in California.
If you do qualify for benefits, How much money will you get? and much more just stick around to the end of this post to get the juice out of it.
And most importantly at the end of this post, I will include the links where you will file your claim online with the EDD
but I will also include the links to very helpful sources so that you can file your claim correctly the first time.
Eligibility for unemployment benefits in California
while the unemployment insurance program is meant to help people not everybody qualifies,
the EDD has set up eligibility requirements that you must meet before they will send you a weekly check.
Generally, there are seven requirements
- Physically able to work: obviously if you can't actually work say due to disability unemployment insurance is not going to help you there are other states' programs to help you in that situation which is a different topic which I will discuss in another article. so basically you need to able to work in order to get insurance benefits.
- Available to work: you need to be available to work if you're in Europe on vacation and want insurance benefits, that is not going to happen.
- Ready & willing to Accept work: you need to be ready and willing to immediately accept work if a job offer is made.
- Actively looking for a job: you need to be actively looking for a job you can't just get fired and then chill on your couch and expect unemployment insurance to pay your bills.
- Totally/partially unemployed: you need to be totally or partially unemployed, obviously you can get unemployment if you get laid off but what if you're simply reduced from full-time to part-time? in certain situations yes you can also get unemployment.
- Lost Job- No fault of your own: you need to have lost your job or be unemployed through no fault of your own. Basically, this means you may be denied unemployment benefits if you were quote discharged for misconduct connected with your most recent work.
- what does that mean, well there's a lot of established law on point the unemployment code section 1256 contains the exact law on this issue but I will provide a link at the end of this article to an extremely useful page o the EDD website which discusses this issue at length.
- Earned Enough in "Base Period": you need to have earned enough wages during your base period to establish a claim. This is a little confusing to explain basically the EDD wants to make sure that you've earned enough wages during a specific 12 months period and the quarter's they are in to justify pay now unemployment benefits to you.
what happens if you quit your job?
If you quit your job can you still get unemployment benefits, the answer is Maybe,
California unemployment insurance code section 1256 says that an individual is disqualified for unemployment compensation benefits
if the director finds he or she left his or her most recent work voluntarily without good cause but
what does good cause mean?
good cause is defined in the California Code of regulations it says that good cause exists for leaving work when a substantial motivating factor
and causing the claimant that is the employee to leave work is real, substantial, and compelling and would cause a reasonable person who also genuinely wants to stay at the place of work
to leave their job under the same circumstances but to the large extent, you have to convince the claim adjudicator that your reason is legitimate.
if you can't do that then your claim may be denied and you might have to file an appeal.
Now I assume that you meet all of these eligibilities requirements,
Amount of Unemployment Benefits in California and for how long will California pay you?
For claims beginning on or after January 1st, 2021 weekly benefits ranged from fifty dollars [ $50 ] at a minimum to one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars [ $1252 ] maximum per week.
This minimum and maximum number change from time to time, so make sure you check
To qualify for that maximum amount you must earn a minimum amount in a calendar quarter during that base period that's a little bit confusing but
there are online calculators that I'll link to that can help you figure this out.
How long do your benefits last?
well generally 26 weeks is the number that is thrown around that's roughly 6 months of benefits but the number of weeks varies from person to person
based on your earnings during that base period.
Extension of unemployment benefits in California
EDD said 47% of people on PEUC will be able to continue collecting their benefits, plus the extra $300, without any delays.
For the other 53% of the people, who have exhausted all PEUC extension benefits, EDD plans to phase them into the new extension between April 10 and April 30.24 March 2021
How do I extend my EDD unemployment?
If your benefits year expired, you should file a new claim on UI online [edd.ca.gov/unemployment]
if there are enough in conciliating wages for a new claim, that claim will be processed. if not,
the EDD will automatically file a PEUC extension on your preceding UI claim and you will be notified.
Will PUA benefits be extended?
Both PUA and PEUC benefits have been extended for eligible claimants for 29 weeks through September 4, 2021. Those on the federally funded FED-ED program,
which is available to those who have used all their PEUC benefits,
have had their benefits extended to up to 20 weeks of benefits, through September 11.27 March 2021
How do I know if my EDD claim was approved?
The best method to check on the status of your claim is to log in to UI Online. you can also check on the status of your payment through an automated,
the self-service telephone system at 1-866-333-4606
This line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in English and Spanish.7 May 2020
What happens after I certify for Unemployment CA?
By certifying for unemployment benefits, you are declaring by law that you meet the eligibility requirements to collect benefits.
As a result, you will receive benefits payments after you complete your certification.
if you do not receive a payment within 10 days of certifying, there may be an issue with your claim. on 12 March 2021
what happens when PEUC runs out?
when you run out of weeks on a PEUC extension, you might be eligible for another 20 weeks extension under the Federal - state Extended Duration [FED-ED]5 programs.
you may qualify for regular unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. If eligible, you can receive up to 26 weeks of benefits.
California EDD "$0 Balance Maximum Benefits Paid" - will I receive an Extension PUA, PEUC, UI FED-ED?
Many of you CA EDD claimants are now seeing the zero dollar maximum benefits paid, you may not file a new claim notice in unemployment insurance (UI) online on your PUA UI PEUC account.
Now many of you are alarmed by this and you don't know what to expect next, now the prior stimulus bill which was enacted in December extended claims 11 weeks,
now this was extended up until march 13th we are now after march 13th so we reached the end of that time frame.
for those of you that had the remaining claim balance at the end of that time frame, you would still be able to collect it up until claim week ending 4 10.
but for those of you that are seeing a zero dollar maximum benefits paid that means you have reached the end of that extension that, that extension has now expired for you.
if you see zero dollar maximum benefits paid, don't be alarmed because you will be receiving the next extension that was granted in the American rescue plan
this extension grants an additional 29 weeks up until clean week ending September 4th.
so, yes if you see zero dollars maximum benefits paid you will be extended up until claim week ending September 4th
if you're a PUA claimant you will be extended automatically you do not have to take any action.
if you are a traditional unemployment claim UI you were an employee previously or if you were receiving a PEUC extension on a UI claim
if you are within your benefits year and you are a UI or PEUC claim you'll be extended automatically.
so how do you know when your benefit year ends?
Look in UI online and look at your claim start date count 12 months after that, if you are 12 months after your claim start date then you are not within your benefits year.
but if you're still within that time frame then you're within your benefit year and you will be extended automatically for your unemployment benefits in California.
now if you are UI or PEUC and you're in a zero dollar balance there is one of two kinds of extension that you may receive next
The PEUC extension up until claim week ending September 4th
this is the extension that is from the American rescue plan act the most recent stimulus bill and it's going to be applied automatically
but we don't know exactly how long the California EDD is going to take to get it set up and running.
it could be set up relatively quickly or it could take several weeks to implement we don't have a date as of now.
This leads me to the next possible extension that you could get which is a FED ED Extension
if the California EDD takes long enough to implement the stimulus bill PEUC extension and instead fed ed kicks in for you then
fed ed will be the next extension that you receive.
so it's a bit hard to tell which one is going to hit first into your claim but as long as your benefit year has not expired one or the other will kick in for you automatically.
Now in order to receive FED ED, you must qualify for it there are few specific factors that you must meet in order to qualify
you can check here
Now a FED ED kicks in for you automatically first, FED ED in the state of California is up to 20 weeks.
FED ED continues in the state of California if the state unemployment rate is at 6% or above
currently, we are at 9% so FED ED is still active.
once fed ed kicks in for you, you must use up all fed ed weeks before switching over to the new weeks of PEUC from the new stimulus bill.
once your fed ed 20 weeks is exhausted, if there are still remaining weeks within September 4th time frame then you will be moved over to PUC and allowed to collect from there.
How to stop unemployment benefits in California?
some claimants end up owning the department money because they don't know when or how to stop their unemployment benefits.
once you began working you simply stop certifying for that week, this is important to stop certifying when you begin your time at work not when you get your first paycheck
for example if you work two weeks before getting your first paycheck the department will demand a refund of your benefits for those two weeks that you were working,
if you only earned a small amount that is less than your weekly benefits you would enter that amount when asked during your weekly certification.
Earning less than your weekly benefit amount will not disqualify you from benefits but it will be deducted from your weekly amount.
if you've been on unemployment in California and you just started returning back to your job. you're going to start earning an income again
and because you have your normal income back you're not going to be entitled to unemployment benefits,
so how to stop unemployment benefits in California?
It's tough to contact the EDD because they are so busy and their phone lines are always full but what you can do is when you're certifying for your weekly income,
you get to certify that you did receive a job offer and you did receive income from that job and then there's a place
where you could fill out the form of what company that you're receiving income from and how much money you've earned.
so you are still certified for the benefits but you're entering a different number in because you're earning income,
if you do that for enough weeks then your unemployment insurance claim will close because you've been earning a lot of income over the past few weeks.
if the EDD still sends you money then you need to hold on to that,
make sure you don't spend it because they are gonna ask for it back eventually, and trust me they will ask for it back.
congratulation you have your jobs back.
I hope you found this article to be helpful if so please hit the thumbs up button down below,
if you know somebody else who also lost their job please share this article with them.
they should file their claim as soon as possible after they get fired and resources like this help them along in their path.
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Sources:
EDD official website: Click here
EDD Page on “Misconduct” - Click here
EDD Page on “Good Cause” if you Quit - Click here
EDD Page on Calculating your Benefit Amount and Your “Base Period” - Click here
Online Calculator for Calculating Your Unemployment Benefit Amount - Click here
Unemployed Insurance Code § 1256 - Click here
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