Reopening A CA EDD Claim Confusion

[graceous]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I am in the most unenviable position of possibly losing my job. Let's hope this does not happen. And, I am very confused about reopening a claim.

Last April 2014, after working part time temp a few months, I opened a new EDD claim. Receiving $62 a week at the time was better than nothing, especially after being not being full-time employed over a year. I received no award letter from EDD, in fact, I received absolutely no paperwork except two claim forms. I filled one out and sent it back. Then the second one arrived, and I noted that I was supposed to be paid $124. I never filled out the second claim form as I was going back to work again. I never received this payment from EDD.

So, my question is this. Suppose the worst case scenario of losing my job next week that I have been employed in since the end of May 2014 making about $4000 a month. When I go to reopen my claim, is what I receive $62 a week? This is what Ask EDD seems to be telling me.

And if this is true, what about the fact that I never received nor cashed the one payment on this claim ? That seems like justification to request cancellation of this claim. Ask EDD seems to think the $123 is sitting in some B of A debit card. I had no debit card for this claim but I am going to call them tomorrow. I did have an EDD debit card several years ago, but that was long ago tossed.

Here is EDD's response: Your weekly benefit amount has been determined by your wages in the base period from when you initially filed your claim. This weekly benefit amount is paid each time you certify your eligibility for a two week period when we receive your claim form. This weekly amount is not subject for changes. Contact the Bank of America EDD Debit Card customer service at 1-866-692-9374 for any inquiries about your debit card balance or transactions, or if it is lost, stolen or damaged.

Hope someone can help clarify. Its bad enough being on the firing line for a job I absolutely love, but $62 a week punishment seems cruel and harsh.

 

[CourtClerk]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I am in the most unenviable position of possibly losing my job. Let's hope this does not happen. And, I am very confused about reopening a claim.

Last April 2014, after working part time temp a few months, I opened a new EDD claim. Receiving $62 a week at the time was better than nothing, especially after being not being full-time employed over a year. I received no award letter from EDD, in fact, I received absolutely no paperwork except two claim forms. I filled one out and sent it back. Then the second one arrived, and I noted that I was supposed to be paid $124. I never filled out the second claim form as I was going back to work again. I never received this payment from EDD.

So, my question is this. Suppose the worst case scenario of losing my job next week that I have been employed in since the end of May 2014 making about $4000 a month. When I go to reopen my claim, is what I receive $62 a week? This is what Ask EDD seems to be telling me.

And if this is true, what about the fact that I never received nor cashed the one payment on this claim ? That seems like justification to request cancellation of this claim. Ask EDD seems to think the $123 is sitting in some B of A debit card. I had no debit card for this claim but I am going to call them tomorrow. I did have an EDD debit card several years ago, but that was long ago tossed.

Here is EDD's response: Your weekly benefit amount has been determined by your wages in the base period from when you initially filed your claim. This weekly benefit amount is paid each time you certify your eligibility for a two week period when we receive your claim form. This weekly amount is not subject for changes. Contact the Bank of America EDD Debit Card customer service at 1-866-692-9374 for any inquiries about your debit card balance or transactions, or if it is lost, stolen or damaged.

Hope someone can help clarify. Its bad enough being on the firing line for a job I absolutely love, but $62 a week punishment seems cruel and harsh.

If you're still within that benefit period (which it sounds like you are) then you will receive the $62/wk. As for where the payment is, EDD said years ago when they started to hand these EPC cards out, not to discard them in the event that your claim terminates because if you have to reopen the claim, they will put the money there. So, that card that you threw out long ago? That's where the money is and since they already paid it, you can't cancel the claim.

 

[Chyvan]

That's where the money is and since they already paid it, you can't cancel the claim.

Besides this, the claim was established in April, 2014. It's been way too long to cancel the claim now. You needed to make that request within 30 days of the mailing of your award letter.

The good news is that if you're still out of work come April, 2015, you can refile for a "transitional" claim, get your waiting week waived if you file during the narrow 3 day window before your current claim expires, and they will recalculate your benefits with what looks like significantly higher wage quarters.

 

[commentator]

Okay, as long as you did not draw out the money, it is still there for you to draw. You did not lose it. It doesn't magically attach itself to that card only like if it was a check. If they set up an account for you, it's still there in the account. They can re issue you another debit card. But you can't just cancel it and get a do over now. Because it's the law, that's why.

If you were entitled to xxx number of dollars in the whole claim, which will be $62 x 26, I suspect, then that is the total amount of money you can draw between April of 2014 and April of 2015 when your BYE date passes. This is regardless of whether or not you draw it consecutively, or whether you drew one week, then went back to work, worked more, and then are about to be laid off and ready to draw again.

But twenty six weeks, or less, of $62 a week is all you would qualify for until that date next April passes. You didn't cancel the claim in a timely manner, and that's all there is to it. Unemployment isn't based on how much you need it, but how your wages fit in the quarters and make up the claim, and there's no appeal for that.

The good news is, though if you have been out of work all the time between now and April you''ll be very close to out of benefits if not totally out, receiving that $62 a week, if you're still out of work in April of 2015, since you did go back to work after setting up that claim, you'd be able to start a new claim, based on the base period that is in effect at that time, which should pull in some better wages for you. But between now and then, $62 is as good as it will get.

 

[graceous]

Thank your all for the responses. Need I say, this is an absolute nightmare. If I thought the possibility of be terminated will ruin my life, this will ruin my life even more. Guess that is for another forum.

 

[commentator]

Do not sit on this one. Do not dwell on all the terrible things that may happen to you, the unfairness of the whole thing, the tragedies that may lurk in your future. As Mark Twain said, "Most of my troubles.....never happened." Begin looking at once for something new. Go for it, change is sometimes just what you needed to do, but didn't until the issue was forced. Good luck to you.

 

[graceous]

Commentator,
Good advice, I am looking, and I am also going to fight to keep this job. I really do like it. Sent a memo to supervisor today at her email, cc: her boss, with my own action plan to save this job, and asking for 2-3 weeks to get it together. Meanwhile, yes, I need to be looking. For all I know, it may all work out just fine.

 

[graceous]

Sorting It Out

I hope someone can confirm or deny if I am on the right track here.

So, I have a claim open 4/14/2014 to 4/14/4015. Weekly amount $62, total earnings of about $1500. So, if I need to collect due to job loss, I would keep collecting simply until 4/14/2015 when the claim ends or when the balance runs out? My current, as of today, employer pays for this or the former employer?

Then, in 4/2015. I open a new claim if still unemployed. I am in my 60's. I may still be. So would payment be based on the Oct, Nov, Dec quarter, probable earnings about $6000, or would July Aug Sept (the highest quarter) be the one considered? The new claim of 04/15 would be paid by my current (for now) employer, or the employer for the quarter used for calculation?
There may be other earnings, as I might be able to get back into tax preparation for the season as an employee, but it would just be for Jan Feb March 2015.

 

[cbg]

Your current employer has nothing at all to do with a claim that you've already got opened. Your current employer may have responsibility for a future claim that you may open, depending on whether that is the employer who has most recently let you go when you next need to file one, but the wages your current employer is paying you are not considered for a claim you opened before you began work; nor is that employer's account being charged for your claim.

 

[graceous]

Update

Surprisingly, after several contacts with EDD, and presenting some compelling reasons why this claim should be cancelled, such as I never received any Notice of Determination, received no documents except a continuing claim form, I never received a debit card, I never received any payment, did not understand the process, etc., EDD has granted me a phone interview to discuss the issue of wanting to cancel the claim. I also stated that I felt that because I did not technically receive payment, I had justification for cancelling the claim. Apparently, something I wrote brought about hope that the claim can be cancelled.

Although I technically opened this claim April 14, 2014, I recently received a letter from EDD, November 13, 2014 called Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed, but also stated I filed a claim on 4/14/2014.

Today I received the notice of a telephone interview scheduled in about a week, and now it is even more important as I had a layoff from my job and am eligible for the maximum payment, $450, I think.

What is really strange is that the telephone interview questions are these, and seem to make little sense in relation to the issue of wanting to cancel the claim.

What date did you want your claim to start?
Why do you want the claim to start on this date?
Why did you not contact EDD on that date?

My best answer is: I never received any documents on the claim, except a continuing claim form, until 11/13/14. I did not understand that submitting the continuing claim form meant I had a claim for a year. I had read that EDD was sending out claim forms to everyone who applied, regardless of whether they were determined eligible, and was just following instructions. The Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim, which was sent to me 11/13, clearly explains the consequences of filing a continuing claim form. If I had received this form right after I opened the claim I would have understood the consequences, and not opened the claim. $62 would not be worth it.

Any advice on how to best prepare for this interview? Thanks!

 

[Nellibelle]

Surprisingly, after several contacts with EDD, and presenting some compelling reasons why this claim should be cancelled, such as I never received any Notice of Determination, received no documents except a continuing claim form, I never received a debit card, I never received any payment, did not understand the process, etc., EDD has granted me a phone interview to discuss the issue of wanting to cancel the claim. I also stated that I felt that because I did not technically receive payment, I had justification for cancelling the claim. Apparently, something I wrote brought about hope that the claim can be cancelled.

Although I technically opened this claim April 14, 2014, I recently received a letter from EDD, November 13, 2014 called Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed, but also stated I filed a claim on 4/14/2014.

Today I received the notice of a telephone interview scheduled in about a week, and now it is even more important as I had a layoff from my job and am eligible for the maximum payment, $450, I think.

What is really strange is that the telephone interview questions are these, and seem to make little sense in relation to the issue of wanting to cancel the claim.

What date did you want your claim to start?
Why do you want the claim to start on this date?
Why did you not contact EDD on that date?

My best answer is: I never received any documents on the claim, except a continuing claim form, until 11/13/14. I did not understand that submitting the continuing claim form meant I had a claim for a year. I had read that EDD was sending out claim forms to everyone who applied, regardless of whether they were determined eligible, and was just following instructions. The Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim, which was sent to me 11/13, clearly explains the consequences of filing a continuing claim form. If I had received this form right after I opened the claim I would have understood the consequences, and not opened the claim. $62 would not be worth it.

Any advice on how to best prepare for this interview? Thanks!

So much for the experts that said you couldn't get benefits from this latest employer that laid you off, until April of 2015.

As far as preparing for the interview, you just have to answer a couple questions verifying what you put on your application and your claim will proceed!

 

[commentator]

She's got an appeal. That doesn't mean "her claim will procede." You can appeal just about anything, including the waiting week, the base period, or any aspect of the claim that you don't like. But whether it will be approved or not, that's another story. I hope, for the sake of this lady who had filed a claim which set up for a very small amount that they will allow her to cancel it. But "I didn't get anything telling me...." is usually a very poor argument, because they really do usually generate these informational materials and they usually don't accept "I didn't receive it" as a very good excuse. "I did not understand the process" usually doesn't get very far either. But maybe, who am I to say otherwise.

I also am having a lot of trouble seeing how this person would qualify for $400+ dollars now, since as far as I can see, there are at best only two good quarters in the base period that would be used if she would be able to file a new claim. Perhaps a lot more money, but for a lot less time, like maybe 13 weeks. Hope so, but like I said, I'm not seeing a lot of this being anything except "Yes, sure, if you want to, you can appeal this."

Maybe the OP will come back and tell us what has happened after her hearing. I'm certainly wishing her the best.

 

[graceous]

Commentator,
Yes, it is a long shot, and I really did not receive the paperwork. Maybe, just maybe, they recognized that it was not sent, and that's why they sent me Notice Of Filing Unemployment Claim last week for the 04/14 claim.

Yes, it is only two good quarters. Maybe 16 payments, I guess. And, the way I look at it, even if I lose the appeal, I can just go ahead and get the $62 a week now for as long as it lasts, and then in April 2015, when I will lose another job (due to being a tax preparer), I can file another claim,(the tax prep company does not dispute EDD claims), and I can still get the maximum benefits for a limited number of weeks, based on those same two high-earning quarters, and, hopefully have another high earning quarter for my tax preparer work as well. Guessing all of those, with this scenario, makes the appeal less of a high profile concern.

Telephone interview is on 11/21, guess it will take a while to hear the decision, but, yes, of course, I will discuss the outcome. Your detailed responses are much appreciated!

 

[jimnyc]

So much for the experts that said you couldn't get benefits from this latest employer that laid you off, until April of 2015.

As far as preparing for the interview, you just have to answer a couple questions verifying what you put on your application and your claim will proceed!

Care to show where this was said by any "expert"? They discussed 2015 but never stated definitively that one "couldn't".

An YOU are going to critique another members advice? The person who came here for help herself, and then became a lawyer overnight and has been running around giving out crap advice to others ever since?

 

[Chyvan]

So much for the experts that said you couldn't get benefits from this latest employer that laid you off, until April of 2015.

As far as preparing for the interview, you just have to answer a couple questions verifying what you put on your application and your claim will proceed!

Getting a phone interview (it's not an appeal) is no guarantee of anything. EDD is simply going to listen to her, then tell her, "no," in a letter. She can even appeal that decision to an ALJ at a hearing, and I predict the same result. This case is very black and white. I worked with someone on a case like this. He cancelled his claim on the 29th day. However he had filed his continued claim form. He was making a mad dash to cancel before that payment was issued. Luckily, he'd filed a paper form that took longer to process. However, the payment was issued the day AFTER he'd cancelled. The EDD interviewer denied for no other reason than he'd been paid. He appealed, and the ALJ cut him some slack. Had EDD cancelled the payment on the day that he called, the payment would not have been made, and so he got his claim cancellation. There's no close call with your situation.

These are the three criteria for cancelling a claim in CA and I'll tell you why you fail on at least two of them:

To exercise the Solway claim cancellation option, three conditions must be met:
•Cancellation must be requested within thirty days of the issue date or mailing date of the DE 429 (such time limit may be extended upon a showing of good cause), and
•The claimant has not received and cashed his or her first benefit check, and
•No Notice of Determination disqualifying the claimant has been issued.

First, in April/May of 2014, you had NO intention of cancelling your claim. You even filed a continued claim form. Had it not been for getting a job so quickly, I guarantee that you'd have filed the second one, and all the others that would have come. There will be no "good cause," because it's not like you asked way back then to cancel the claim and an EDD worker said, "when you don't file, the claim will cancel." You didn't even know it was an option. You're only doing it now because you just found out about it.

Second, you filed your continued claim form. You got $62 on a Bank of America debit card. Call BofA, I bet they tell you, yes, we've got your money right here.

Then there is another thing you're not taking into account. Each week that goes by where you don't take the $62/wk that you could have had, is going to be LOST. You can disagree with me, but just know this isn't like some UI matters where the worst that happens is you end up with nothing. If you're wrong, you actually go in the hole because you could have had something, and will get nothing.