One more thing - when your sister certifies for benefits, she needs to report any income she receives, including if the employer eventually pays those bounced checks. But she should definitely file now rather than waiting to see if they pay. The EDD will establish what's called a "last day worked" which will be important for determining eligibility. If the employer contests the claim, she'll have an opportunity to explain the situation during the phone interview.

Yes, that's exactly what she should explain. Just be very clear about the timeline: when paychecks bounced, last day actually worked, when the office was found locked, last communication from management, etc. The EDD interviewer will understand this situation - it happens more often than you'd think. They just need to establish that she didn't quit voluntarily and is available for full-time work.

After reviewing your situation, I think you have a good chance on appeal if you focus on the housing habitability issues. California recognizes uninhabitable living conditions as potential good cause for leaving employment. Document everything about your previous housing: maintenance requests, photos of issues, police reports about the neighbor, communication with landlord. For your current job situation, you might qualify for partial benefits due to reduced earnings, but that's contingent on the appeal for your separation being approved first. The certification email followed by disqualification happens because the system sends automatic certification notices regardless of claim status. Keep certifying though - if your appeal is successful, they'll pay those weeks. Good luck!

can someone please clarify what counts as 'good cause' for quiting?? i always thought u basically had to have proof ur employer was breaking the law or something. does housing really count?? im so confused about edd rules sometimes!!

Just wanted to jump in and say I had this EXACT same issue two months ago and what worked for me was persistent calling between 10:30-11:30am. For some reason that seemed to be when their call volume dipped a bit. I got through after about 12 tries one Wednesday morning around 10:45. The rep fixed my mistake in like 2 minutes and my payment switched from pending to paid that night. Just keep trying different times - there's definitely a sweet spot when it's easier to get through!

UPDATE: I finally got through!!! Used Claimyr this morning after failing again with regular calling. Got connected to an EDD rep in about 35 minutes. The agent was super nice and fixed my certification answer while I was on the phone. She said it was a common mistake and took less than 5 minutes to correct. My payment already switched from pending to paid! Thanks everyone for your suggestions - this community seriously saved me!

Update for anyone dealing with access code issues: EDD has actually created a new dedicated phone line specifically for UI Online access problems as of February 2025. The number is 1-866-401-2849 and they're open Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. They can help with access codes, password resets, and account recovery. I just learned about this from an EDD representative I spoke to last week, and it seems to be less overwhelmed than the main line. Might be worth a try!

i had a friend who went thru this last month and she said what worked was calling EXACTLY at 8:01am not 8:00 because everyone tries right at opening. also she said try the 2511 number which sometimes has different people answering

So happy it worked for you! Fingers crossed your payment processes quickly. Mine took about 16 hours to go from pending to paid.

I'm confused about something... I just got into the system but it's asking me about "employment search" requirements but I thought I was exempt because I'm on a temporary layoff with a return date? Do I still need to list 3 job contacts with the new system or does the temporary layoff exemption still apply? I don't want to mess this up and get disqualified when I'm supposed to go back to work in 3 weeks. The instructions are so unclear!!