California Unemployment
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If you are fired for performance can you collect unemployment in California EDD?
So I got let go from my warehouse supervisor job last Friday and my manager said it was due to performance issues - specifically that I wasn't meeting productivity quotas over the last couple months. No warnings in writing, no PIP, nothing documented that I ever signed. I've been there four years with no prior disciplinary actions ever put in my file. I filed my California EDD unemployment claim online through myEDD (https://myedd.edd.ca.gov/) that same day but I'm honestly terrified I'm going to get denied just because they wrote 'performance' on my termination paperwork. Does being fired for performance automatically disqualify you from UI? Or does EDD actually look at whether what happened was really serious misconduct vs just not hitting numbers? I have no savings to fall back on and rent is due in three weeks. Any experience with this would be huge right now.
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If I quit my job can I still get unemployment in California EDD?
So I've been at this warehouse job for almost two years and the conditions have gotten genuinely unbearable. My supervisor has been making my life hell, constant mandatory overtime with zero notice, and they cut my pay without telling me. I finally hit my limit last week and walked out. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I actually burned myself by quitting instead of waiting to get laid off. Did I just screw myself out of unemployment? Like if I quit my job can I still get unemployment or am I just toast? I went on UI Online and it lets me apply but I have no idea what's going to happen once EDD sees that I quit voluntarily. Has anyone actually been through this and gotten approved after leaving on their own?
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If I quit with nothing else lined up financially, should I be applying for CalFresh too while I wait for EDD to decide? Just trying to figure out how to survive the gap.
I didn't know you could get CalFresh while also getting unemployment — assumed they'd cancel each other out.
Medi-Cal is worth looking into too while you're in the gap. BenefitsCal handles applications for both. Covered California is another option if you need health coverage and want to compare plans.
Had a question about the base period stuff — I quit in November and my highest earning quarter was about 18 months ago when I was working full time at a different company. Does EDD use that quarter or just look at what I made at the job I quit?
Exactly — if that full-time job falls inside the base period, those wages count. The DE 429Z you get in the mail will show the actual amount EDD calculated.
That's really useful to know, I was assuming they'd only look at my most recent employer.
What do you get for unemployment in California EDD?
So I got laid off two weeks ago from my warehouse job and honestly had no clue how any of this works. My coworker told me to apply right away but I didn't really know what I'd actually receive once I did. Like what's the actual dollar amount? Is it based on what I was making before? And how long does it even last? I'm trying to figure out if unemployment will actually cover my rent while I job hunt or if I'm going to need to pick up gig work on the side too. Applied online through myEDD last week but still waiting to hear anything official back. Any help breaking down what California EDD actually pays out would be huge.
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Covered California and COBRA are both options worth knowing about for health coverage now that you're between jobs. EDD lists both on its resources page. COBRA keeps you on your old employer's group plan after a layoff, though you pay the full premium yourself. Covered California is the state marketplace and they can offer plans regardless of your health history. BenefitsCal is also worth checking for Medi-Cal eligibility depending on your income level now. None of these are through EDD directly but they're part of the same resource network EDD points people toward.
Covered California has open enrollment windows but a job loss usually qualifies as a special enrollment event so you don't have to wait. Worth checking their timeline.
lost my coverage after a layoff two years ago and went straight to Covered California. the application took maybe 20 minutes and coverage started the following month
DOES ANYONE ELSE find it insane that the max is $450 when rent in california is like $2000+?? like this was set at some point and never really adjusted for actual cost of living. $450 covers maybe a third of rent for most people in the bay or LA. the whole system feels like it was designed for a different era
This is a known issue and there have been legislative conversations about it but nothing's changed the cap in a while. In the meantime the 25%/$25 earnings buffer does at least let you supplement without losing benefits entirely.
The gap between what UI pays and what California actually costs to live in is genuinely rough. No easy fix but knowing about all the supplemental programs - CalFresh, Medi-Cal, etc - helps fill some of it.
Who does unemployment affect? A California EDD perspective from someone going through it
Lost my marketing coordinator job at a mid-size tech firm back in October after they did a round of layoffs - about 40 of us out the door at once. I always thought unemployment was something that happened to other people, like folks in construction or manufacturing who get seasonal cuts. Never once imagined it would touch someone in an office job with a decent salary. Now I'm knee-deep in the California EDD process trying to figure out how this whole system works and honestly it's opened my eyes to how wide the net really is. Who actually gets affected by unemployment? Is it just people who get laid off, or does it cover people who quit or get fired too? My claim is sitting in what UI Online calls Pending and I've been reading that adjudication might be involved since my employer is disputing something - though I'm not even sure what. Would love to hear from people who've been through this, whether you were a retail worker, a teacher, a freelancer who went full-time, whatever. Feels like nobody talks about who this system is really built for and who it ends up leaving out.
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Account balance hit zero on week 24 and panic set in. I want to be clear about extensions because there's a lot of wrong information floating around - there is no automatic extension in California beyond the standard 26 weeks right now. Extended Benefits exist only when unemployment rates hit specific thresholds under state or federal law and they are not currently paying. The California Training Benefits program is different - if EDD approves you for school or retraining, you can keep collecting without the work search requirement and may get additional weeks, but you have to apply before your 16th week of benefits. That window matters.
The confusion is understandable because during the pandemic there were all kinds of extended programs. Those are gone. 26 weeks is the ceiling for a standard claim right now.
The training benefits angle is worth looking into if someone has a direction they want to retrain toward. Apply before week 16 is the deadline to remember.
Fourteen months total between two separate claim periods taught me a lot about who the system serves and where it falls short. Filed with Claimyr the second time around when my new claim had an identity verification hold - DE 1326C letter showed up saying my ID.me verification hadn't come through. Reached a live EDD agent who confirmed the ID.me submission had gone through on their end but hadn't linked to my new claim yet. Agent told me what the next step in the process was so I wasn't just waiting blind.
Identity verification held up my previous certification period too and it's incredibly stressful not knowing what's actually happening in the system. Good that the agent could confirm the status.
The DE 1326C is one of those letters that creates a lot of anxiety - good to know calling in can actually surface useful information about where the hold stands.
Can I draw unemployment while on social security? California EDD question
So I got laid off from my warehouse job last month and I've been getting Social Security retirement benefits for about two years now. Someone at my old job told me I couldn't collect both at the same time but I honestly don't know if that's true. I applied for California EDD unemployment already and it's processing, but now I'm freaking out that I'll get denied or end up with some overpayment issue down the line. Do I need to report my Social Security on my certifications? Will EDD reduce my weekly benefit because of it? I really need both right now to cover rent while I look for a new job.
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Last month I had a situation where my claim went into pending specifically because EDD had a question about my pension — not my SS, the pension — and it took forever to get anyone on the phone to explain what documentation they needed. Eventually got through to a live agent at EDD using Claimyr and the agent walked me through exactly which form to submit and confirmed the pension amount I'd reported was correct. The issue closed out after I sent in what they asked for.
How long did it take for the pending status to clear after you submitted what they asked for?
About four business days after I submitted the documentation, the weeks moved from pending to paid in UI Online. The agent had told me to watch Claim History and that's exactly where the update showed up.
Random question that this thread made me think of — if someone is on SS and working part time and then gets laid off, are they calculating the UI weekly amount only off the wages, not the SS? Like the base period only looks at earned wages?
That makes sense, so the SS income actually doesn't disadvantage someone in terms of qualifying either — it doesn't count for or against meeting the wage threshold for a valid claim.
To have a valid California EDD claim at all you need enough wages in the base period — either $1,300 or more in a single quarter, or at least $900 in the highest quarter plus total base period wages of at least 1.25 times that. SS plays zero role in hitting those numbers.
Chloe Boulanger
the CalFresh application is worth looking at right now if money is tight. You can apply through BenefitsCal and unemployment benefits count as income for eligibility purposes, but it's the county that decides how much you'd get. It's not a lot but it helps with groceries while you're waiting for EDD to process everything. Took me about two weeks to get my first CalFresh payment after I applied during my last UI claim.
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Aria Park
AuthorI hadn't thought about CalFresh honestly. With rent coming up and not knowing when EDD will start paying I should probably look into it this week.
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Chloe Boulanger
BenefitsCal is where you apply, and you can also call 1-877-847-3663 or go to your county office. The application asks about income, household size and expenses - having your last pay stubs handy makes it faster to fill out.
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William Rivera
Eight months after a performance firing and I want to say for anyone reading this later - it does get resolved. Mine took almost four weeks from filing to first payment because of the interview and the pending period. I got approved, back-paid the pending weeks I'd certified for, and was able to keep certifying for several months afterward while I found something new. The uncertainty at the beginning is brutal but the process does have an end point.
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William Rivera
document everything, be honest in the interview, keep certifying - that's really the whole thing. the system is frustrating but for a performance firing with no documented misconduct your odds are genuinely okay
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James Martinez
and if something does go sideways with the decision, remember you have 30 days from the mailing date on the Notice of Determination to appeal. the process doesn't end if EDD gets it wrong the first time
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