Comment by Matt Charney on March 4, 2014 at 12:49pm

Good question - don't they just have to report earnings on the form they receive from EDD that they have to send back in order to collect benefits and have this automatically deducted from their overall eligibility?  Think it's part of the form that they're required to fill out, but could be wrong...

Comment by Cristina Lewis on March 4, 2014 at 1:21pm

@Matt Charney, yes I believe you are correct. I just wonder if there is a section on the EDD web site or a form that I can show candidates that will put them at ease vs. just having them take my word for it.

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on March 4, 2014 at 3:16pm

You can check it out here: http://www.edd.ca.gov/Unemployment/

-kh

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on March 4, 2014 at 7:44pm

I can only speak for WA State but as a former Employment Security Dept employee we explained it like this -

"when you receive UI benefits, you are awarded a specific amount (bucket of money) for a certain amount of time (usually a calendar year). If you work at all during your benefit year, you need to claim those earnings and your weekly benefit could be reduced. However, your money stays in the bucket. Smart workers will often work part time and/or temporary jobs in order to extend their claim - make your money last longer. If you claim your benefits in full every week, it will typically run out in 6 months."

More often than not that worked... check w/ your state though. Seriously it's the smart thing to do.

Comment by Kelly Blokdijk on March 5, 2014 at 11:01pm

@Christina - one thing I'd be curious about is whether the wage level offered is worth enough to them (after taxes, commute, other expenses, etc) to work vs what they would earn on UI. I've heard this is an issue especially for those in the less professional categories where the opportunity is highly unlikely to go above the maximum they are eligible for on UI - which isn't much but... 

@Amy - It is my understanding (not an expert, of course) that CA does not extend the claim or UI funds that an unemployed person didn't not collect due to other earnings during any period of their claim. It's either one form of income or the other. 

The main issue w/ CA EDD is that they seem to penalize people in this exact predicament. The unemployed person DOES want to work (even if temp or low pay) but the procedures EDD has in place makes it more trouble than it's worth for them to take that type of assignment. And not just financially. It's a gigantic bureaucracy in every possible way. 

The entire claim process is so convoluted and unpleasant that rather than take a temp, part-time or survival job, many of them simply hold out for something "better" to come along and hope that happens before their claim runs out. I've heard some really outrageous stories of people getting the run-around and having to continuously "prove" that they aren't trying to work the system when they are legitimately unemployed or re-unemployed through no fault of their own. 

Here's an article depicting just a sliver of how this entity is a classic CF 

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-brown-edd-unemployme...

Good luck, Christina and please let us know if you find anything interesting as a resource to pass along. 

~KB @TalentTalks 

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