One more angle on how unemployment affects the employer that nobody's mentioned — it can sometimes affect unemployment insurance costs for the ACQUIRING company if a business gets bought. The experience rating can transfer with the business under certain conditions. Also employers sometimes factor their UI experience rating into decisions about who to lay off and in what order — not because they're trying to avoid UI claims exactly but because managing separation risk is a real part of workforce planning at larger companies.

To bring it all back to the original question with a clean summary: unemployment affects the employer financially through higher UI tax rates based on claims history. It affects them administratively because they receive notice and must decide whether to respond. It affects them strategically because some businesses factor in UI exposure when making workforce decisions. And it can affect them legally if they wrongly contest valid claims since California EDD and even courts can scrutinize employer responses for accuracy. The system is designed to balance claimant access to benefits they're entitled to with employer incentives to maintain stable employment. Neither side is supposed to have all the leverage.

been reading this whole thread. genuinely learned more here than from the entire EDD website. Thanks OP for asking the 'dumb' question lol

One last thing that's relevant to your question about paying in - your EMPLOYER's contribution history does affect one thing indirectly related to you. If your employer has a high UI tax rate (meaning they've laid off lots of people before) it doesn't change your benefit, BUT it may indicate that company has a pattern of layoffs. When companies get bought out or restructure, the successor company often inherits that UI tax history. Just interesting context for understanding the bigger picture of how the system works.

came here to ask basically the same question as OP and got way more info than expected. filing today. been putting it off for 10 days after my layoff because i was embarrassed about needing unemployment benefits honestly

For anyone landing on this thread later with the same question - summary of what you need to know: 1) No hard deadline to file after termination but file ASAP to avoid losing weeks, 2) Your benefit year and WBA are not negatively affected by filing a couple weeks late, 3) Request backdating for weeks between termination and your filing date, 4) Keep certifying every two weeks no matter what, 5) Maintain your job search log starting from your first eligible week, 6) Monitor UI Online daily for status changes or required actions. If you need to speak with an actual EDD agent about your specific claim situation, Claimyr at claimyr.com has been recommended multiple times in this thread as a way to get through the notoriously difficult EDD phone queue - their demo at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10 explains how it works.

UPDATE: So I finally got through to a California EDD agent this morning (used Claimyr after reading this thread and it actually worked - I was shocked). Turns out my former employer did contest the separation. They claimed I resigned voluntarily which is completely not what happened - I was given a choice between resigning or being let go due to a restructuring and HR told me at the time it wouldn't affect my unemployment eligibility. The agent told me I need to submit a written statement explaining my side along with any supporting documentation by a specific date. She was super helpful once I actually got to talk to a real person. I'm going to gather all my emails from the period around my separation and submit them. Thank you all so much for the help and support in this thread.

Really glad this thread helped someone. For anyone else who finds this while searching for 'why is California EDD investigating my unemployment claim' - the key takeaways: keep certifying, keep job search logs, get documentation of your separation together, try to reach an actual agent (Claimyr at claimyr.com worked for the OP here), and don't assume the worst. Investigations don't automatically mean denial. The system is slow and confusing but there is usually a path through it.

OP did you end up filing yet? curious how it went for you

For anyone else who finds this thread while searching about two-job unemployment situations - the short version is yes you can absolutely file for California EDD unemployment if you still have one job. File a partial claim, report both employers, report your part-time wages honestly every week, and keep up with your job search activities. If you run into any issues or get stuck in adjudication and can't get answers from EDD, claimyr.com has been the most reliable way I've seen to actually reach a live EDD agent without the phone nightmare. Good luck everyone