After you file your initial claim, you'll start receiving certification forms every two weeks. Be 100% honest when reporting your job search activities and any income. Being suspended for not passing an exam is different from being fired for misconduct, which works in your favor. But they'll want to see that you're making a genuine effort to resolve your employment situation - either by passing the exam or finding suitable work elsewhere. Also, start documenting everything now. Keep emails from your employer about the suspension, exam registration receipts, study materials you've purchased, etc. Having this documentation ready for your eligibility interview will help tremendously.

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now as a medical assistant - failed my certification renewal exam twice and my clinic suspended me until I pass. What I learned from talking to EDD is that the key factor is whether your employer considers this a "temporary suspension" vs "termination for cause." Since you're still technically employed and they're willing to take you back once you pass, that's actually good for your case. Make sure when you apply that you emphasize you're actively job searching AND working toward resolving the certification issue. One thing that helped my case was getting a letter from my employer stating that this is a temporary suspension pending certification, not a firing. Maybe ask your supervisor if they can provide something like that? It shows EDD that you have a clear path back to work. Also, have you looked into any free or low-cost exam prep resources? Some community colleges offer certification prep courses that might help you finally pass on the next attempt.

I just wanted to add that you should consider requesting an IRS PIN for future tax filings. It's an extra layer of protection that prevents anyone from filing taxes using your husband's SSN without the special PIN. It's free and gives you peace of mind knowing that even if someone has his SSN, they can't file fraudulent tax returns in his name.

I went through something very similar last year with my wife's SDI claim. We discovered fraudulent wage reports from employers she'd never worked for right after filing for disability benefits. I was terrified it would mess up her legitimate claim, but here's what actually happened: We reported it immediately to EDD's fraud department and were very clear that we had a pending SDI claim that was legitimate. The fraud investigator was actually really helpful and made notes in the system to keep the two issues separate. Her SDI payments weren't delayed at all - they processed normally while the fraud investigation happened in the background. The key is being upfront about both issues when you call. Don't try to hide the pending SDI claim or wait to report the fraud. EDD deals with this more often than you'd think, and they have processes in place to handle both simultaneously. One thing that really helped us was getting everything in writing. After each phone call, I'd send a follow-up email through their online portal summarizing what was discussed and asking for confirmation. This created a paper trail that proved we were being proactive about reporting the fraud. The whole fraud investigation took about 2 months to fully resolve, but it didn't impact her disability benefits at all. Good luck!

When I had my eligibility interview last month, they barely asked anything! It was like 5 minutes tops. The lady just verified my identity, asked if I was able to work during each of the weeks, and if I'd been looking for work. I said yes to everything and got paid 2 days later. Probably just depends which interviewer you get though.

I'm dealing with almost the exact same situation right now! Won my appeal three weeks ago but still stuck waiting for this eligibility interview. It's so frustrating because like you said, the judge already went through everything thoroughly during the appeal hearing. What's really getting to me is that I've been without income for over 4 months now while they keep adding more hoops to jump through. I understand they need to verify things, but it feels like they could have done this verification process while the appeal was pending instead of making us wait even longer after winning. Has anyone had luck calling the eligibility interview line directly? I keep getting transferred around when I call the main number and no one seems to know when my interview will actually be scheduled.

I'm in a similar boat - got laid off in June 2023 and only found out recently I might have qualified for benefits. From what I'm reading here, it sounds like the key is having documentation to support your "good cause" for not filing earlier. One thing that might help your case is if you can show you received conflicting information about gig work eligibility. Maybe screenshot some outdated forum posts or articles that suggested you couldn't get benefits while doing DoorDash? I've seen some old articles from 2022 that were pretty misleading about partial benefits. Also, don't give up after one denial - sounds like appeals can sometimes work even when the initial request doesn't. The amount of money involved makes it worth fighting for, especially if you were out of work for several months.

I'm dealing with something similar - got laid off in March 2023 from my retail job and didn't apply for benefits until I learned about backdating just last week. From everything I'm reading here, it seems like the key factors are: 1) having a documented reason beyond just "didn't know I qualified," 2) being prepared for a long appeals process, and 3) getting through to an actual EDD specialist (not just regular customer service). One thing I noticed from the responses is that people who successfully got backdating had specific documentation - medical records, language barriers, proof of misinformation, etc. For those of us who just genuinely misunderstood the rules around gig work, it sounds like we need to be really strategic about how we present our case. Has anyone here had success specifically with the "gig work confusion" angle? I'm wondering if there are particular ways to frame that misunderstanding that EDD finds more acceptable than others.

UPDATE: My Money Network card arrived today! That was only 6 days after my status changed to paid. The envelope really did look like junk mail - plain white with very little indication of what was inside. I've set up the online account and app like someone suggested. Already transferred my funds to my regular bank account! Thanks everyone for your help and advice. Such a relief to have this sorted out!

Congratulations on getting this resolved so quickly! Your experience is actually a great example of how the system can work efficiently when everything lines up properly. Since you mentioned you're new to unemployment benefits, here are a few additional tips that might help: 1) Keep all your paperwork and screenshots of your UI Online account - sometimes glitches happen and you'll want proof of payments, 2) Set up text or email alerts in your UI Online account so you never miss certification deadlines, and 3) Even though you got approved without the interview, keep documenting your job search activities just in case they ever audit your claim later. The fact that you were laid off from a hospital admin job during staffing changes probably made your case very straightforward for them to approve. Best of luck with your job search!