How quickly do I need to report husband's EDD benefits to CalWORKs? Will it affect our Cash Aid?
Hi everyone, I'm stressing a bit about reporting requirements. My husband and I have been receiving CalWORKs Cash Aid for the past few months (along with CalFresh). He works construction but his hours got cut back severely for winter, so he applied for unemployment. He just got his first EDD payment yesterday. I know we need to report income changes, but I'm not sure how quickly we need to tell our CalWORKs worker about the unemployment benefits. Does anyone know the timeline for reporting EDD payments? And will this affect our Cash Aid amount right away or will they wait until our next SAR7? Really appreciate any help!
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Oliver Cheng
You need to report his unemployment income within 10 days if it puts your household over the Income Reporting Threshold (IRT). Check your last Notice of Action - it should list your specific IRT amount. If the EDD payment plus any other income you received that month exceeds your IRT, you must report it. If it's under your IRT, you can wait until your next SAR7 to report it. And yes, the unemployment will definitely affect your Cash Aid amount since EDD counts as income. They'll recalculate your benefits once you report it.
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Ashley Simian
•Thank you! I'll check our last notice tonight. Do you know if they count the EDD payment for the week it's for or the week we actually receive it? His payment yesterday was for the previous two weeks.
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Taylor To
•They count it in the month you receive it, not when it was for. So if you got the payment in March, it counts as March income even if it was for weeks in February. And just to add - call your worker directly if you're over the IRT. The BenefitsCal site is supposed to let you report changes online, but in my experience, income changes don't always get processed quickly that way.
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Ella Cofer
They'll definitely reduce ur cash aid when u report the EDD. My boyfriend got laid off last yr and his unemployment ended up being more than he made working so our cash aid went down ALOT. just be prepared for that. but u HAVE to report it or they'll say u committed fraud and make u pay everything back.
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Kevin Bell
•This is exactly what happened to me last year! They even tried to claim I committed fraud even though I DID report my partner's unemployment. Make sure you keep proof of when you reported it - take screenshots if you do it online or get the worker's name if you call. I had to fight for months to prove I wasn't committing fraud.
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Savannah Glover
I've been through this exact situation and wanted to share that I had so much trouble getting through to my CalWORKs worker to report my husband's unemployment. I kept getting stuck in the automated system and it would disconnect me after waiting for like an hour. I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to a real person at the county office. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE It was the only way I could actually speak to my worker about the EDD payments instead of just leaving messages that never got returned. Just sharing because reporting these changes can be super stressful when you can't get through.
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Ashley Simian
•OMG thank you for this! I've been trying to call my worker all morning and keep getting the "all representatives are busy" message. I'll check this out because I'm stressing about making sure everything is reported properly.
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Felix Grigori
•does that service actually work? ive never been able to get thru to my caseworker EVER. always goes to voicemail and they never call back
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Felicity Bud
u should know that EDD n CalWORKs talk to eachother so even if u dont report it they will find out. happened to my sister and they cut her off completely for 3 months as a penalty. dont risk it
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Taylor To
•This is absolutely true. The systems do talk to each other and they can easily find out if you're receiving unemployment while on Cash Aid. But they don't always catch it immediately - sometimes it takes them months. That's why it's important to report it yourself within the required timeframe, so you don't end up with an overpayment or fraud case.
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Kevin Bell
Just wanted to add something important! Make sure you're also thinking about how this affects your CalFresh (food stamps) benefits too, not just your CalWORKs. When we reported my partner's EDD, our CalFresh amount dropped by almost $200/month because of the unemployment income. The changes don't always happen at the same time since they can be handled by different workers.
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Ashley Simian
•I didn't even think about the CalFresh impact... that's really good to know. We're already struggling with food costs so I need to budget for that possibility. Thanks for mentioning it.
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Max Reyes
The way they calculate your benefits is so confusing!!!! My worker told me EDD counts differently than regular income because it already has taxes taken out or something? But then another worker told me that was wrong. I don't even know who to believe anymore. The whole system is designed to confuse people on purpose I swear.
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Oliver Cheng
•EDD is considered unearned income (like disability, child support, etc.), while wages from a job are earned income. They are calculated slightly differently for CalWORKs, but both affect your grant amount. Your first worker might have been referring to the earned income disregard that applies to job income but not to unemployment benefits. The system is definitely confusing, but I promise it's not designed to trick you - it's just a complicated patchwork of rules.
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Ashley Simian
Update: I checked our last Notice of Action and our IRT is $2,676. My husband's EDD payment was $840 for two weeks, and I make about $1,100 a month part-time. So combined we're at $1,940, which is under our IRT. Does that mean I can wait until our next SAR7 in May to report it? Or do I still need to report it now?
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Oliver Cheng
•Based on what you've shared, you're under your IRT, so technically you can wait until your next SAR7 to report the EDD income. However, keep tracking your monthly income. If your husband gets another EDD payment in the same month that puts you over the IRT, you'll need to report it within 10 days of exceeding that amount. Just remember that when you do report it (either now or on your SAR7), your Cash Aid will likely decrease. Some people prefer to report changes sooner rather than later to avoid potential overpayments that would need to be paid back later.
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Ella Cofer
•be carefull, if he gets paid every 2 weeks he mite get 3 payments in 1 month sometimes. thats what happened to us and it put us over the IRT that month but we didnt realize until they came after us for not reporting
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