California EDD seasonal unemployment claim - carpenter losing work every winter, need help

That actually makes sense about the pattern flagging. Do you know if there's a specific form or something I need to submit to clarify it's seasonal? I don't want to just wait in adjudication limbo forever.

Your employer needs to respond to EDD's questionnaire correctly. If they haven't done that yet or marked the wrong separation code, that could be holding everything up. Have you contacted your employer to see if EDD reached out to them?

Did you have to do anything on your end or did your employer just fix it and it resolved automatically?

my boss called edd directly and corrected the reason code and then i got a letter saying the adjudication was resolved. i never even had to talk to anyone at edd myself that time

I've been trying to call for two weeks with zero luck so I'll definitely look into this. Did the agent actually resolve it on the spot or did you still have to wait after the call?

She noted my account and told me what was missing, I faxed in a document that same day and had a payment within 5 business days. Calling made a huge difference because they can actually see your file and tell you exactly what's needed vs just guessing.

seconding this - i used claimyr when my construction layoff claim got stuck and same experience, got a real person who actually helped instead of a recorded message telling me to check UI Online

Oh this is really helpful. My employer said 'probably March or April' so it's not a firm date but there's a clear expectation I'll come back. Should I have applied for standby even without a specific date?

You can still apply for standby status without a firm date if you have an ongoing employer relationship and reasonable expectation of recall. Go to your UI Online account and look for the standby request option, or better yet ask an EDD rep directly - this is exactly the kind of nuance where talking to someone makes a real difference.

wait i never knew about the standby thing and not needing to do job searches. i've been doing 3 contacts a week every winter for years when I knew I was going back to my landscaping job in spring. nobody ever told me i could request standby

Completely agree. The lack of transparency in the adjudication process is infuriating. At minimum they should send a letter explaining what triggered the review but sometimes that letter never comes or arrives weeks later.

exactly!! i got a letter once explaining my adjudication AFTER it had already been resolved. thanks for nothing lol

Good to know. I have all my pay stubs organized so I can send those quickly if needed. Is there a way to proactively submit them or do I just wait for a request?

Generally wait for a specific request through UI Online or mail - sending unsolicited documents can sometimes create more confusion. But if you get an adjudication interview scheduled, bring everything.

This is good advice. I proactively sent stuff once and the rep actually couldn't find it in my file because it got attached to the wrong case. Definitely better to wait for them to ask.

File!! You're entitled to these benefits, that's literally what they're there for. Seasonal unemployment is completely legitimate. Don't leave money on the table because the process is frustrating.

You're right, I've been putting it off for two weeks already. Filing today.

Not a dumb question. You have to open a new claim each benefit year (which runs July to June), so there's always some process involved. But your wage records are already in their system from employer reporting, so they can verify your earnings history quickly. It's not fully from scratch but it's also not effortless.

Okay that makes sense. I thought maybe after doing it for years they'd have like a profile or something that auto-approved seasonal workers but I guess that's wishful thinking.

lol if only. EDD is not that technologically advanced unfortunately

That's actually reassuring to hear my history works in my favor. I've been with the same contractor the entire 8 years so the pattern should be really clear in my records.

That's strong. Consistent employer, consistent pattern. An EDD rep seeing that should be able to clear the adjudication quickly once they actually look at your file.

Yes I've been doing this, thank you for the reminder. My claims are all submitted and just showing pending. Really hoping they backdated once this clears.

They should be backdated to the week you became eligible as long as you certified for all those weeks. That's the one silver lining of adjudication - you don't lose the money for weeks you certified, it just gets held up.

This burned me the first time I went through adjudication. I stopped certifying after 3 weeks thinking nothing was happening. Lost like 5 weeks of benefits that I would have gotten if I'd just kept submitting. Learn from my mistake people!!

This is a fair question. Standby is designed specifically for situations where you have a genuine reasonable expectation of returning to your employer. EDD recognizes that forcing seasonal workers to job search and potentially accept offers from other employers would disrupt those ongoing employment relationships that benefit both workers and employers. It's a legitimate status, not a workaround.

Oh okay that makes more sense when you explain it that way. I was imagining people just claiming standby to avoid the job search requirement when they could easily get other work but I see how that's different from a genuine seasonal situation.

The key word is 'reasonable expectation of return' - EDD does evaluate this. It's not automatic just because you want to avoid job searches. You have to demonstrate the ongoing employment relationship.

This is really encouraging. I'm going to try it today honestly. Did you have to do anything special or prepare anything before the call with the EDD rep?

Just have your EDD claim ID number, social security number, and be ready to explain your situation clearly. The EDD rep can pull everything up on their end. I also had my employer's contact info ready in case they needed to reference it.

claimyr.com right? I've seen it mentioned a few times and am curious whether it actually works for adjudication cases specifically or more for just general questions

Three weeks is exactly where I'm at so this is very relevant. Is there specific documentation needed for hardship review or just verbal explanation?

From what I understand it's mostly verbal - you explain the situation to the rep and they can note the hardship on your file which supposedly pushes it up in the queue. I don't know how much it actually speeds things up in practice but it can't hurt.

I tried to do this once and the rep I got basically said there was nothing she could do and to just wait. But maybe a different rep would be more helpful. It really depends on who you get.

That's actually helpful to hear. I was starting to wonder if there was some new policy I missed. Maybe it really is just my employer's paperwork.

Worth asking your employer to pull whatever they sent EDD and just double check the separation reason code matches the reality of the situation

This is genuinely one of the most practical responses in this whole thread. Saving this comment for future reference. The employer reason code tip especially - I never thought to verify that upfront.

The screenshot tip is gold. I've had my portal update without any email notification and I would have missed important things.

Adding to point 2 - you can actually go back and establish an earlier effective date within a certain window even if you file late, but it gets complicated. Just file on time and avoid the headache.

Having multiple employers in your base period is actually totally normal and EDD calculates your weekly benefit amount based on your total wages across all employers in that period. The adjudication would focus on the most recent separation which would be your main contractor. The second employer's wages still count toward your benefit calculation.

Oh good, I was worried having two employers would somehow mess up my claim. Thanks for clarifying.

This is a helpful distinction that I honestly didn't know. How would I be able to tell from my UI Online account which type it is?

Honestly you often can't tell from UI Online alone, which is frustrating. If you've received any specific questionnaires or requests for information through UI Online, that suggests there's a specific issue to resolve. If it's just stuck with no requests, it might be the verification type. But either way you really need to talk to someone to know for sure.

This is exactly why Claimyr was so useful to me - getting a real human on the phone is the only reliable way to know what's actually going on with your specific adjudication. The portal just doesn't give you enough information to understand what you're dealing with.

This is SO good to hear and so relevant to my exact situation. I'm calling my employer today to ask them to verify what code they used. And going to try Claimyr to reach EDD too. Thank you for the update!

The back payment all hitting at once is honestly kind of funny after weeks of nothing. But glad it worked out!

Okay after seeing multiple people in this thread have success I finally went and looked up Claimyr and I'm trying it today. The hold time thing is just not workable when you have a job to get back to.

Really glad you got clarity on it! The employer reason code issue is so common and so fixable, it's just frustrating that there's no mechanism to flag this automatically. Hope your payments come through quickly.

Great outcome! Keep certifying every week until it's fully resolved and payments are released. Glad Claimyr helped you get the info you needed - that call really does make all the difference when your claim is stuck.

This is the best possible resolution to this kind of situation. And you've also probably helped a bunch of lurkers who have the same issue and didn't know what was causing it. The employer reason code thing trips up so many seasonal workers every year.