Can't reach California Paid Family Leave? Claimyr connects you to a live EDD agent in minutes.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the EDD
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the EDD drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
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I actually went through this exact same situation last month! Here's what worked for me: I called the PFL helpline first thing in the morning (around 8:05 AM) and got through pretty quickly. The rep was super helpful - they deleted the wrong form right away and walked me through uploading the correct one. Make sure you have your Social Security number and claim number handy when you call. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes once I got connected. Don't stress too much about it messing up your application - they deal with this kind of thing all the time!
This is so reassuring to hear! I was really worried I'd somehow permanently messed up my application. Thanks for sharing your experience - it gives me hope that this will be a quick fix. Did they ask you any specific questions about why you uploaded the wrong form, or were they pretty straightforward about just removing it?
Hey! I had this exact issue a few weeks ago. I was panicking thinking I'd ruined everything, but it turned out to be no big deal at all. I called the PFL customer service line and explained what happened. The rep was really understanding and said this happens more often than you'd think. They removed the wrong form from my account within minutes and told me exactly how to upload the correct one. The key is to call them sooner rather than later - don't let it sit there stressing you out like I did! You got this! 💪
This is exactly what I needed to hear! I've been stressing about this all day thinking I completely screwed up my application. It's such a relief to know that this is actually a common issue and the customer service reps are used to handling it. I'm definitely going to call first thing tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for the encouragement! 🙏
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As someone who went through this exact situation two years ago, I want to emphasize something that might get overlooked - make sure you understand how PFL payments actually work before you rely on them financially. The 60-70% wage replacement sounds decent on paper, but there are some catches: 1) There's a weekly benefit cap (around $1,620/week max in 2025) 2) The percentage is based on your highest quarter of earnings in your "base period" which might be lower than your current salary 3) There's a 7-day waiting period before benefits start 4) You won't get your first payment for 2-3 weeks after filing I made the mistake of assuming I'd get exactly 65% of my current paycheck and nearly got into financial trouble. Double-check the EDD website's benefit calculator or call them to get an estimate of your actual weekly benefit amount before making any major financial commitments. Also, start setting aside some emergency savings now if you can - even with PFL benefits, those first few weeks without any income can be tight, especially with new baby expenses piling up!
This is such important financial planning advice that I hadn't considered! I was definitely making the mistake of assuming I'd get a nice clean percentage of my current salary. The weekly cap and base period calculation could definitely impact the actual amount significantly. I'll use the EDD benefit calculator to get realistic numbers before I have that conversation with my manager. And you're absolutely right about the waiting period and payment delays - with all the baby expenses coming, I need to plan for potentially 3-4 weeks with reduced or no income at the start. Thanks for the reality check on the financial side. It's easy to get caught up in the job protection concerns and forget that even the "paid" part of paid family leave has its complications!
One more thing to consider that I learned the hard way - even if your employer is supportive of you taking PFL time, make sure you clarify whether they want you to use any accrued vacation/sick time first or if they'll let you go unpaid while collecting PFL benefits. Some employers have policies requiring you to exhaust paid time off before taking unpaid leave, which could complicate your PFL claim timing. Others are fine with you keeping your PTO for later while you're on unpaid leave collecting EDD benefits. This became an issue for me because I wanted to save my vacation days for when my wife went back to work (so I could cover childcare gaps), but HR initially told me I had to use them during my bonding leave. After some back and forth, they agreed to let me take unpaid leave while collecting PFL, but it would have been much easier if I'd clarified this upfront. Just another detail to nail down in those conversations with your manager and HR! The clearer you can be about all the logistics beforehand, the smoother everything will go when baby actually arrives.
This is such a great point about PTO policies! I hadn't even thought about how vacation/sick time might interact with PFL leave. That's definitely something I need to clarify with HR - whether they'd require me to burn through my saved vacation days or if I can keep them for later when we might really need the flexibility for childcare coverage. It sounds like every company handles this differently, so getting it in writing ahead of time is crucial. I'm already learning that there are so many moving pieces to coordinate beyond just the basic eligibility questions. Thanks for adding this to my list of things to discuss - the more details I can nail down beforehand, the less stressful it'll be when the baby actually arrives!
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When my twins were sick last year I had the same problem! So frustrating right? I ended up going to the actual EDD office in person. Had to wait for 2 hours but at least I finally talked to someone who could help. If you have an office nearby might be worth trying.
I didn't even think about going in person! There's an office about 30 minutes from me. That might be my backup plan if I can't reach anyone by phone. Thanks for the suggestion!
Just wanted to add that if you're dealing with RSV specifically, make sure to ask your pediatrician for a detailed medical certification that explains why YOU need to be home caring for the baby (not just that the baby is sick). EDD sometimes pushes back on caregiving claims if the medical cert doesn't clearly state the parent's presence is medically necessary for the child's recovery. Also, if you do end up using the caregiving option instead of extending bonding time, keep in mind that caregiving PFL has different rules - you can take it intermittently if needed, which might be helpful if your baby's recovery isn't linear. Hope your little one feels better soon and that you get this sorted out quickly!
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I'm currently in a similar situation - on disability for a back injury and just found out I'm pregnant (20 weeks). Reading through everyone's responses has been incredibly helpful! I'm definitely going to start preparing the paperwork early based on all the advice here. One question though - if my current disability claim runs out before I need to start pregnancy leave, do I still need to file a new claim or can there be a gap between them?
Great question! If your current disability claim ends before you need pregnancy leave, you can actually have a gap - you don't need continuous claims. When you're ready to start pregnancy disability, you'd just file a new claim at that time with the DE2501 form. The key thing is that if there's more than a year between claims, you might have a new base period for calculating benefits (which could be good or bad depending on your earnings). But if it's within the same benefit year, your calculation stays the same. Just make sure your doctor certifies the exact dates you need to be off work for pregnancy-related reasons!
This thread has been so informative! I'm dealing with something similar but slightly different - I'm currently on disability for carpal tunnel and just hit 35 weeks pregnant. My OB wants me to start pregnancy disability soon but I'm nervous about the timing since my carpal tunnel isn't fully healed yet. Can the pregnancy disability start even if I'm not technically "recovered" from my current disability? Also, does anyone know if having overlapping medical conditions affects the benefit amount or approval process? I don't want to mess up my current payments but I also need to make sure I'm covered for delivery.
Hunter Hampton
I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! My partner has been trying to file for PFL for the past week and keeps getting the verification error. It's so reassuring to see we're not the only ones experiencing this nightmare. Reading through everyone's experiences, I'm definitely going to try the new ID.me account approach first thing tomorrow morning. The fact that multiple people have had success with this gives me hope. I had no idea the January system update was causing so many problems - EDD really should have communicated this better to users. One question for those who successfully got through - after creating the new ID.me account, did you have to wait any specific amount of time before calling EDD to link the accounts, or were you able to call immediately? We're also cutting it close with timing, so every day counts at this point. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and solutions. This thread is incredibly helpful for those of us navigating this frustrating system!
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Selena Bautista
•I can help answer that timing question! When we created the new ID.me account, we were able to call EDD the same day. We actually did it all in one morning - my husband set up the fresh ID.me account around 7:30am using his work email, then we used Claimyr to get through to EDD around 9am. The representative was able to link everything immediately during that same call. The key thing is just making sure the new ID.me account is fully verified before you call. That process took about 10-15 minutes for us (they had him upload a photo of his driver's license and take a selfie). Once that was done, the EDD rep could see the new account in their system right away. Don't wait - every day really does count with these applications. Good luck getting through! The combination of new ID.me account plus using a callback service to reach EDD seems to be the winning formula based on everyone's experiences here.
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Ayla Kumar
This thread has been a lifesaver! I'm going through the exact same verification nightmare right now with my EDD PFL application. My baby is due in 2 weeks and I've been stuck on this error for 5 days straight. Based on everyone's advice here, I'm going to try creating a new ID.me account tomorrow morning and then use one of those callback services to reach EDD. It's frustrating that we have to jump through all these hoops, but at least now I have a clear plan of action instead of just repeatedly hitting refresh and hoping the error goes away. Quick question - for those who successfully got through, did the EDD rep mention anything about how long this verification issue is expected to last? I'm wondering if other expecting parents should be warned about starting their applications even earlier than the usual 2-3 week recommendation. Thanks again to everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions. This community is amazing!
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StarStrider
•I'm so glad this thread is helping you too! I just went through this same ordeal last month and know how stressful it is when you're so close to your due date. From what the EDD rep told me when I finally got through, they said the verification issues are ongoing and they don't have a firm timeline for when they'll be fully resolved. She mentioned they're working with ID.me to fix the integration problems, but it could be "several more weeks" - which obviously isn't helpful when you need benefits to start soon! Based on my experience and everyone else's here, I'd definitely recommend other expecting parents start their PFL applications at least 4-5 weeks early now instead of the usual 2-3 weeks. Better to have everything ready and waiting than to be scrambling with technical issues while you're in the final weeks of pregnancy. The new ID.me account plus callback service approach really does work though - just make sure to have all your documents ready before you call since they might ask you to verify information during that same conversation. Wishing you the best of luck getting it sorted out quickly!
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