Just to follow up - make sure you're answering all the certification questions accurately. Question #6 specifically asks about pension/retirement income. Mark "Yes" there and enter the amount. Don't overthink this too much. EDD deals with retirement income situations all the time. As long as you're honest from this point forward, you'll be fine. They're mainly concerned with willful fraud, not honest mistakes that you're actively trying to correct.

I'm new to this whole unemployment process too and this thread has been really eye-opening! I had no idea about all these reporting requirements. I don't have retirement income but I do have some dividend payments from stocks - I'm assuming those need to be reported as well? It's honestly pretty overwhelming trying to figure out what counts as "income" and what doesn't. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and knowledge here, it's really helping those of us who are navigating this for the first time.

UPDATE: Finally got an answer! I took the advice here and sent a message through Contact EDD in UI Online. It took 6 days, but they responded with my exact penalty week count (5 weeks total) and told me I've already served 2 of them. They also mentioned they're working on adding this information to the UI Online dashboard in a future update. For anyone else with this issue - definitely use the Contact EDD messaging feature and specifically ask "How many total penalty weeks have been assessed on my claim and how many have I served so far?

This is such a common issue and it's crazy that EDD doesn't make this basic information easily accessible! I'm dealing with penalty weeks right now too after a similar overpayment situation. Based on what I've learned from this thread, I'm going to try the Contact EDD messaging approach since calling seems like a nightmare. It's really helpful to see that @Ravi got a response in 6 days with the exact count - that gives me hope! Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions.

i had my caljobs thing last week. honestly it was pretty chill. lady just wanted to see that i was actually applying for jobs and not just sitting around. appointment was like 40 min but felt shorter. they sent the link day before and i clicked it right at my appointment time. no problems. dont stress too much about it

I just had my CalJOBS appointment yesterday and wanted to share some tips that might help you! The link came to both my email and UI Online exactly 24 hours before. I set phone reminders for myself to check both places since I was also worried about missing it. The appointment was about 35 minutes. They had me share my screen to show my CalJOBS profile and we went through my work search activities from the past few weeks. Having a simple spreadsheet with company names, positions applied for, and dates really helped speed things up. One thing that surprised me - they actually gave some decent job search advice! The counselor helped me identify a few skills I could highlight better and suggested using more specific keywords in my applications. My advice: log into your CalJOBS account beforehand and make sure your profile is complete. Have your work search activities written down somewhere (even just notes on your phone). And definitely join the call a few minutes early - the system can be a bit slow to connect sometimes. You've got this! It's really not as scary as it seems once you're in there.

UPDATE: I tried what @profile6 suggested about changing notifications in BOTH places, and it actually worked! I just got my first deposit alert email this morning when my certification payment hit. Such a confusing system but I'm glad to finally have it working. Thanks everyone for your help!

I had this EXACT same issue and it was driving me nuts! Turns out Money Network has a weird bug where if you have any special characters in your email address (like periods or plus signs), the notifications won't send properly. I had to change my notification email to a simpler Gmail address without any dots or symbols, and now I get alerts every time. Worth checking if your email has any unusual formatting - might be why some people's notifications work and others don't even after fixing the dual settings issue.

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I feel much better now understanding that Social Security retirement benefits don't need to be reported when certifying for unemployment in California. I'll make sure to continue answering "no" to the income questions since my only other income is my Social Security retirement. Really appreciate everyone clearing this up for me!

Just wanted to add my experience here - I went through the same confusion when I started collecting Social Security at 62 while still on unemployment. After reading through the EDD handbook multiple times and finally getting through to a rep, I can confirm what others have said: Social Security retirement benefits are NOT reportable income for EDD certifications. The key distinction is that Social Security retirement is a federal benefit you've earned through your work history, not a pension from a specific employer. The certification questions are specifically looking for work income, self-employment income, and employer-based pension payments that might reduce your UI benefits. I've been certifying for 6 months now without reporting my SS retirement and haven't had any issues. Just make sure you're getting regular Social Security retirement benefits, not SSDI (disability) which would be different. Hope this helps ease your mind!