Update: My PFL claim just changed from

That's great news! Thanks for the update - it's really helpful to know the timeline worked out. Congrats again on your new baby! For anyone else reading this thread who might be in a similar situation, it sounds like the system does work most of the time, you just need to be patient for about a week or two. Wishing you and your little one all the best during your bonding time! 💕

Hot take: The whole unemployment system is designed to be confusing so people give up and don't get the benefits they deserve. Change my mind.

Thanks for asking this question! I'm dealing with something similar and was totally lost on what to prepare. One thing I'd add to the great list from @Aaliyah Jackson - if your overpayment is related to work-search requirements, make sure you have documentation of your job search activities during that period. I learned the hard way that EDD sometimes flags people for overpayments if they can't prove they were actively looking for work. Screenshots of job applications, emails from potential employers, anything that shows you were meeting the requirements can really help your case.

Congratulations on getting this resolved! Your update is going to be so helpful for other new parents dealing with this nightmare. I'm currently 8 months pregnant and this thread has been a goldmine of information - I had no idea about the SDI/PFL transition issues. I'm definitely going to call EDD the day after my pregnancy disability ends to make sure everything is properly closed before applying for PFL. It's ridiculous that this is such a common problem but at least now I know what to watch out for. Thanks for sharing your experience and I'm so glad you're finally getting your benefits!

This whole thread is incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with the exact same issue right now - applied for PFL after my SDI ended and got hit with the "open SDI claim" denial. Been waiting on my appeal for 6 weeks with no word. Reading through everyone's experiences, it sounds like the key things are: 1) making sure there's no date gap between SDI ending and PFL starting, 2) confirming your doctor submitted the final SDI paperwork properly, and 3) actually getting through to EDD to have them manually close the SDI claim. I'm going to try the 8 AM calling strategy and also look into that Claimyr service. At this point I'm willing to try anything to get this resolved - my maternity leave is almost over and I still haven't received a single PFL payment. It's honestly criminal how broken this system is, especially when new parents are already dealing with so much stress and financial pressure. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and solutions!

have you checked your spam folder? sometimes confirmation emails end up there. also, make sure your using the correct email address. i made that mistake once and spent days trying to figure out why i wasnt getting any updates lol

Another thing to check - make sure the file name doesn't have any special characters or spaces. I had issues uploading a document called "Medical Records - January 2024.pdf" but when I renamed it to "MedicalRecords_Jan2024.pdf" it worked fine. The system can be picky about file naming conventions. Also, try uploading during off-peak hours (like early morning or late evening) when their servers aren't as busy - sometimes that helps with the upload success rate.

Is it weird that I'm kinda gonna miss that debit card? It was like my lil unemployment buddy for a while there 😂

Serious question: has anyone had issues with their bank after switching to direct deposit? My bank once froze my account when I got a large deposit and I'm worried about that happening with unemployment payments.