FORESTHILL, Calif. — When construction worker Chad Crittenden was laid off in late June, he applied for unemployment benefits the next day with California's Employment Development Department (EDD).
“Two weeks later, I get an email from them telling me to certify for my first two weeks, and I did that," said Crittenden. "Twenty-four hours later I got an email from them telling me I was disqualified.”
He stared calling EDD to straighten things out and finally got through after nearly two months of trying. “Somebody answered and I couldn’t believe it, but it only lasted a few seconds and ‘click.’ I was at my wit's end.”
That’s when Chad emailed one of his local state legislators, Senator Brian Dahle (R-1st Senate District). Within a couple of hours, a member of Dahle's staff had contacted him for information. It didn't take long to resolve things after that.
"Within six hours, he had a phone call back to me asking me to log back in (to EDD) to see what the status was, and it was fixed and paid,” Crittenden said.
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"It's our number one thing we're dealing with," said Senator Dahle. He said the backlog of people having issues with their claims is a result of safeguards and processes that changed to adapt to the coronavirus outbreak, confusion over how to answer questions during the application process, and a huge surge in unemployment.
"COVID came along and the system was overwhelmed, and the system is antiquated--not a very good system, as well. It's a perfect storm for people not getting service," Dahle said.
Working with liaisons available to lawmakers at EDD helped speed things along. Dahle's staffers were able to get Crittenden's claim sorted quickly, but not all situations are the same.
“Some cases take five minutes, like Chad’s. Some take five days, some take five weeks. It depends on the case, but there’s a lot of them that we’re at least able to give them, ‘Okay, here’s your problem,’ and then we’ll work through it, and then we’ll work with them," said Dahle.
Senator Dahle suggests that people looking to repeat Crittenden's success start with their local representative.
"We’re getting swamped. People from all over the state are calling us because word’s spreading, but yes. First, you should contact your own legislator’s office, whether it’s an assembly or senate, and if that doesn’t work, contact us and we’ll do what we can to help you," Dahle said.
For Crittenden, his advice is simple. “Call your senator. Email them. The senators are there to at least listen. If they can help, they can help."
“I got two-and-a-half months. I can only imagine how people are feeling that have been dealing with this since March.”
Have you solved your EDD claim issue? Tell the Dollars and Sense team how you did it by texting us at (916) 321-3310.