SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The federal government recently added updates and three new reasons unemployed Californians can use to explain why they were out of work during the COVID public health emergency.
This change was announced by the Employment Development Department who is offering the retroactive opportunity for approximately 100,000 claimants who were previously denied and may now be eligible for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program under these new provisions.
Those who were previously denied benefits under the PUA program will receive instructions on how to complete the reassessment. This opportunity is limited to those who receive notification from EDD and no other applicants will be able to reassess under this program.
The three new reasons are:
You were an employee and your hours were reduced or you were laid off as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. (Anyone previously denied benefits under the PUA program will receive a message in their UI Online account with instructions on how to complete the reassessment)
You were denied unemployment benefits because you refused to return to work or accept an offer of work at a worksite that was not in compliance with COVID-19 safety standards.
You were a school employee and were fully or partially unemployed because of changes in your usual work schedule directly caused by COVID-19.
A press release says most of these claimants had marked none of the available COVID-specific reasons for unemployment applied to them.
Nearly 40% of those who reapplied with this new criteria were found eligible for retroactive benefits, according to the press release.
The EDD is reaching out to former claimants through text, mail and paper notice, e-mail and through their UI online account. Customers should be wary of scams and only fill out information on their UI online account or on paper notices received from the EDD.
According to requirements, claimants will have 30 days from the mailing date of the paper form to return the reassessment form to the PO Box address listed on the form.
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