Here's what I recommend for your certification: 1. For the week you received the settlement, answer 'Yes' to receiving income 2. Select 'Other' for income type 3. In the explanation box, put 'Settlement wages' 4. Enter the amount from the 'wages' portion only ($3,800) 5. Don't include the penalties portion ($5,200) Your benefit will be reduced that week according to the partial benefits formula. For every dollar over $25 you earn, your benefit is reduced by $1. So if your weekly benefit amount is $450, and you report $3,800, you would receive $0 for that week (but it won't affect future weeks).

I work as a paralegal and have dealt with similar settlement issues for clients. Just wanted to add that you should keep ALL the documentation from this settlement - the breakdown showing wages vs penalties, the check stub, everything. If EDD ever audits or questions this later, you'll want to show exactly how the settlement was categorized. Also, some settlements specify the time period the "wages" portion covers (like back pay for a specific period), which could potentially affect which weeks you report it for. If your settlement docs mention specific dates the wages relate to, you might want to clarify that with EDD. But definitely report the wages portion - better to be overly cautious than deal with overpayment issues down the road!

Does anyone know if there's a way to check the status of your application after you've submitted everything? I'm tired of being in the dark.

Just wanted to share my recent experience - I finally got my PFL approved last week! For anyone still struggling with the upload process, here's what worked for me: 1. Use Firefox or Edge instead of Chrome (Chrome kept giving me errors) 2. Make sure your documents are under 5MB each 3. Save everything as PDF format - they seem to prefer that 4. Keep file names simple (no special characters or spaces) The "Upload Documents" section can be tricky to find - it's usually under the "Manage Claim" tab once you're logged in. Don't give up! The system is definitely clunky but it does work eventually. Also echoing what @GalaxyGlider said about screenshots - DEFINITELY do this! I had to prove I submitted something twice because their system "lost" it the first time. 📸 Hang in there everyone - I know it's frustrating but you'll get through it! 💪

UPDATE: My payment finally switched from pending to paid this morning! The EDD website now says the payment was issued today (Monday) so hopefully it will be in my account tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone for your help!

That's awesome news! I'm glad your payment finally processed. I'm actually in a similar situation - certified yesterday around 2 PM and mine is still showing pending this morning. Your timeline gives me hope that it should switch to paid by tomorrow. Did you notice any specific time when it changed from pending to paid, or did you just happen to check at the right moment?

Great question! I'm in a similar situation - lost my bartending job at the beginning of the year and have been thinking about doing some Uber Eats to help with bills while I look for another service industry position. From reading everyone's responses, it sounds like the key things are: 1) Report ALL gross earnings accurately during certification 2) Stay under that $99 threshold if you want to keep full benefits, or understand the 75% reduction formula if you earn more 3) Keep detailed records matching EDD's Sunday-Saturday weeks 4) Don't work more than 32 hours/week or they might consider you fully employed 5) Continue doing required job searches and stay available for full-time interviews The math actually seems to work out okay if you're strategic about it. Like if I made $150 in gig work one week, I'd lose about $38 from my EDD benefits ($150-$99 = $51 x 0.75 = $38.25), but still come out ahead overall. Has anyone here had experience with Uber Eats specifically? I'm wondering if their earnings tracking is any easier to work with than DoorDash when it comes to matching EDD reporting periods.

I've been doing Instacart while on EDD for the past two months and wanted to share some additional insights that might help. The grocery delivery gig has some unique considerations compared to restaurant delivery: 1) Instacart pays weekly on Wednesdays, which actually makes it slightly easier to track earnings for EDD's Sunday-Saturday reporting periods since you get a clear weekly statement. 2) However, be extra careful about "heavy pay" bonuses and peak hour incentives - these all count as reportable income even though they show up separately from your base earnings. 3) One thing I discovered is that if you're doing grocery delivery, you're interacting with customers more directly (texting about substitutions, etc.), which could be seen as customer service work that might transfer to restaurant jobs. I've actually mentioned this experience in a couple interviews. The key is really just staying super organized with tracking. I use a simple phone note where I jot down my daily earnings right after each shift, then total them up by EDD week every Saturday night before certification. Also, don't forget that gig work earnings can actually help you qualify for a higher benefit amount if you end up filing a new claim later - they count as wages for benefit calculation purposes. Just make sure everything is reported accurately from the start!

Quick update question - did your payment status change yet? If it's been more than 72 hours, it's probably worth contacting EDD directly. Sometimes pending payments can indicate they need additional information from you, but they don't always notify you promptly.

see? told u not to panic lol. EDD is slow but it usually works out