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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idk if this helps but I had a similar issue. Turns out they needed additional proof of income. I uploaded my w2 and tax returns, and it got sorted within a week.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! This is so helpful. @Nina Fitzgerald that calling service sounds interesting but wow, $20 just to get through to them is nuts. @Makayla Shoemaker I'll check if they need additional income docs - that's a good point. Has anyone had luck with emailing their state representatives? I'm getting desperate here and might try that route next.
@Mei Liu I actually contacted my state rep about 2 months ago when I was stuck in EDD limbo! It took about a week for their office to get back to me, but they were able to escalate my case. Got a call from EDD within 3 days after that and my payments started flowing again. Definitely worth trying - worst case they can t'help, but best case they cut through all the red tape for you. Good luck! 🤞
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Congratulations on your approval and your new baby! This is such helpful information for other parents going through the same process. 16 business days is definitely on the longer side but pretty typical for December applications with the holidays. It's frustrating that the online system doesn't update in real time - seems like that's a common issue with EDD. Thanks for sharing the Claimyr tip too, I've been seeing more people mention that service and it sounds like it really works for getting through to a human. Enjoy your bonding time with your little one!
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Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who went through this process recently! I'm a freelance photographer and enrolled in Elective Coverage when I was about 10 weeks pregnant. One thing I wish I had known earlier is that your benefit amount is calculated based on your REPORTED income, not what you actually earned. So if you're conservative with your income estimate (like I was), your benefits will be lower even if your actual business income ends up being higher. Also, keep really good records of all your business expenses and income from the moment you enroll. When you file your actual disability claim, having organized financial records makes the process SO much smoother. I used a simple spreadsheet to track everything monthly and it saved me hours of scrambling later. Good luck with everything - the timeline is tight but definitely doable if you move quickly! And congratulations on your little one on the way! 💕
This is such great advice about the income reporting! I never thought about how being conservative with estimates could hurt me later. Do you remember roughly how much your benefits ended up being compared to what you expected? I'm trying to figure out what to report as my projected income - my jewelry business has been pretty inconsistent month to month so it's hard to predict what I'll actually make this year. Thanks for the congratulations too! 😊
Just to add to all the great advice here - I'm a self-employed web developer who went through this exact process in 2024. One crucial thing I learned: when you're calculating your projected income for the DE1378N form, be realistic but don't lowball yourself too much. I was overly conservative and reported way less than what I actually ended up making, which limited my benefit amount to about $200/week when it could have been closer to $400. Also, pro tip: once you get your Elective Coverage approval, you can make your quarterly payments online through EDD's e-Services portal. Much faster than mailing checks! And definitely keep copies of EVERYTHING - your enrollment form, approval letter, payment confirmations, etc. You'll need them when you file your actual claims later. The fact that you're being proactive about this now gives you a real shot at making it work. Most people don't even realize self-employed folks can get these benefits! Wishing you the best with your application and congrats again on the baby! 🍼
This is all such incredibly helpful info! I'm feeling way more confident about navigating this process now. The tip about using e-Services for payments is great - I hate dealing with paper checks and mail delays. And you're so right about keeping copies of everything... I'm already terrible at organizing my business paperwork, so I definitely need to step up my game! One quick question - when you say "realistic but don't lowball," do you have any rule of thumb for estimating? Like should I look at my best months and project from there, or average everything out? My jewelry sales are super seasonal (holidays are huge for me) so it's tricky to predict what the full year will look like. Thanks again everyone for being so generous with advice - this community is amazing! 💎✨
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Paolo Romano
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?
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James Martinez
•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!
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Daniel Rivera
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.
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