Will EDD SDI reduce my partner's benefits for reporting a December bonus check?

Don't stress too much about this. Bonuses from BEFORE the disability period usually don't affect SDI benefits since they're calculating his base period wages. What matters is if he earned any income DURING his disability period. You should definitely report it though to be safe. Just call EDD and explain the situation.

yeah my husband got a bonus right b4 his disability started last year and it didn't change anything with his payments. they only care about $ you get while ON disability

I work in HR and deal with SDI claims regularly. The previous responses are mostly correct, but there's some nuance here. The December bonus won't affect his disability benefits IF it was for work performed before his disability began. SDI looks at wages earned during the disability period, not when they were paid. However, you should absolutely report it through the proper channels to avoid any potential overpayment issues later. You can do this by calling EDD directly or noting it on his next certification form in the section asking about additional income. Just clearly explain it was a bonus for work completed before his disability started.

I had something similar happen but it was vacation pay not a bonus. The EDD rep told me that any income earned BEFORE disability started doesn't affect benefits at all. But if u don't report it and they find out later they'll think ur hiding income and might make u pay everything back!!! Just be upfront about it.

Good luck even REACHING anyone at EDD to report it! I've tried calling them 37 times in the past week about my disability claim and either get disconnected or sit on hold forever. Have you tried using Claimyr to get through? It's the only way I finally reached a real person at EDD last week. Check out their site at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/1X-mEsLtbmQ?si=1hcSq3KFtCr4oAmd that shows how it works. Saved me hours of frustration when I needed to explain my situation about retroactive payments.

I'm going to disagree with some of the responses here. While it's true that income earned BEFORE the disability period generally doesn't impact your SDI benefits, bonuses can sometimes be treated differently depending on when they were earned versus paid. The key here is the Base Period that EDD uses to calculate your benefits. This is typically the 12-18 months before your disability claim. If the bonus was earned during this period but just paid out in December, it's already factored into his benefit calculation (which is good!). What you absolutely MUST do is report it properly. On the DE 2501 Claim Form, there's a section for "Last payment other than wages" where bonuses should be reported. If he's already submitted his initial claim without including this, he should contact EDD to update his claim information. Failing to report it could potentially trigger an audit later, especially if the bonus appears on his W-2 and EDD does a wage verification. Better to be proactive than deal with a potential overpayment situation later.

To clarify my previous response - yes, you need to report it specifically, and the best way would be to call EDD directly. The DE 2501 was just the initial claim form - since that's already been submitted, a phone call is your best option. Explain that you need to report additional income (the bonus) that was received before the disability period began but wasn't included on the original claim form. The representative will document this in his file. Make sure to get the representative's name and a reference number for the call. This is mainly to protect yourselves. The bonus likely won't affect his benefit amount, but having documentation that you reported it will prevent any issues later if questions arise about unreported income.

The EDD system is DESIGNED to trap people with these kinds of technicalities!!! I got a retroactive payment from my union while on disability and EDD accused me of FRAUD even though I reported it. They reduced my benefits for THREE MONTHS while "investigating" and I almost lost my apartment. The whole systems rigged against workers!!! Report EVERYTHING and get it in WRITING!

Don't let the negative experiences completely stress you out. Yes, dealing with EDD can be frustrating, but most standard situations are handled routinely. The fact that this bonus was clearly paid before the disability period began works in your favor. Make sure to do these three things: 1. Document your attempt to report it (date, time of call, representative's name) 2. If possible, get an email confirmation or case number 3. Keep any documentation showing when the bonus was issued and that it was for work performed before the disability This creates a clear paper trail showing you made a good faith effort to report everything properly. Most issues arise when EDD perceives someone is trying to hide income, which clearly isn't your intention here.

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a quick update - we finally got through to EDD after trying for two days (had to call right when they opened at 8am). The representative said that since the bonus was for work performed before his disability, it won't affect his current benefits at all! She documented everything in his file and gave us a confirmation number. Such a relief! Thanks to everyone who helped with advice.

So glad to hear everything worked out! This is a perfect example of why it's always better to be proactive and report things upfront rather than worry about it later. Your experience will definitely help others in similar situations. It's also encouraging to know that EDD reps can be helpful when you actually manage to reach them - the 8am strategy is gold! Hope your partner's recovery goes smoothly from here.

Welcome to the community, Jacob! This thread has been really educational for me too as someone who's dealt with SDI before. The 8am calling strategy really is the best kept secret - I wish more people knew about it. It's so refreshing to see a situation like this work out smoothly when you handle it the right way. Genevieve did everything perfectly by being proactive and transparent with EDD. Hope your own SDI situation gets resolved just as easily!