Can school cafeteria workers collect unemployment between school years? California EDD question

How long did your whole thing take to resolve after the interview? Did they pay your pending weeks once they decided?

The DE 4800 came about five days after I talked to the agent, and the interview itself was maybe ten days after that. The interviewer phoned at the exact time on the notice, asked me about my job duties, whether my contract mentioned coming back in the fall, that kind of thing. After that it was another week or so before my Claim History stopped showing Pending. EDD processed the certified weeks and they paid out.

So they actually paid you for summer weeks? That's really helpful to know because every person at my school told me cafeteria workers always get denied.

Paid for most of them, yeah. The first week is always the unpaid waiting week, so that one doesn't pay regardless. But the rest came through once EDD finished deciding the eligibility issue.

My district never gave me any paperwork saying I'd be back. The supervisor just said 'see you in August' when school let out. Does that verbal thing count as reasonable assurance?

Honestly that's exactly the kind of detail EDD wants to hear about in the phone interview. Verbal assurances can count, but how definite it was and whether you had any reason to doubt it matters. Just tell them exactly what happened - 'my supervisor said see you in August' - and let EDD decide. Don't guess or assume what they'll conclude.

This is confusing me because I thought the phone interview was only if you got fired or quit. I didn't know they did interviews for laid off school workers too.

The interview isn't just for firings and quits - EDD schedules one any time there's a question about eligibility that needs more information. For school employees, the summer break issue is exactly that kind of question, so it almost always triggers one.

Pending in Claim History just means EDD hasn't finished deciding your eligibility for those weeks yet. That can be because of an open issue like the school employee question, or identity verification, or something else entirely. It's not the same as being denied - it just means the decision isn't done.

Okay that makes me feel a tiny bit better. I've been reading people saying they waited two months. Is that normal?

Two months happens, especially when there's a phone interview involved. The timeline after the interview is usually faster than the wait for the interview itself.

No severance, nothing. They just stop scheduling me after the last day of school. I'm technically not on a contract - I'm hourly and they just call me back at the start of the year.

Hourly with no written return agreement sounds like you've got a decent argument for benefits. That's very different from a teacher who signs a contract for the next year before summer even starts.

Severance does have to get reported when you certify though right? Like if the district had given any kind of end-of-year pay?

You report all pay when you certify, yeah - EDD lists severance as something to report. But EDD's own rules say severance paid out under a company plan or policy isn't counted as wages for UI purposes, so it usually doesn't cut off your benefits. EDD makes the final call either way. The OP said they don't get severance so it's probably not a factor here.

Filing and getting denied is not the same as not filing. If EDD denies you, you get a Notice of Determination with an Appeal Form and you can challenge it. If you never file, you just never get anything. The worst case of filing is a written denial you can appeal within 30 days.

I'm going to tell her to apply this summer. Even if it's just the pending situation for a while.

Public school districts are the most common situation people post about here. Private schools and charter schools can operate differently and EDD's reasonable assurance analysis still applies - it's about whether you have a commitment to return, not what kind of school it is. The specifics of your employment arrangement are what EDD focuses on.

What if you work for a school that's run by a nonprofit? Does being a nonprofit employer change anything?

Working for a nonprofit doesn't change your eligibility as a claimant. Former workers at nonprofits file and are paid the same way as anyone else - EDD handles it on the same basis.

Okay good because my school is technically a nonprofit charter and I was nervous about that.

Mine calculated out to around $310 a week based on what I put in the calculator. Does that number usually match what comes on the DE 429Z?

Pretty close, usually. The DE 429Z is the official award notice EDD mails you after processing - that's the number that actually counts. If the DE 429Z shows something way different from the calculator's estimate and you think there's an error, you have 30 days from the mailing date to appeal it in writing.

I never got a DE 429Z and it's been three weeks since I applied. Is that normal?

EDD's own timeline says about three weeks to process a new application and send out those documents. If you're right at that mark it might arrive any day, or possibly got held up. Worth checking through UI Online or phoning EDD if nothing shows in another week or so.

Eight in the morning right when they open gets you the best shot in my experience. After about 8:30 it becomes a lottery.

I've been calling at 7:58 and it still just tells me high call volume and hangs up. It is a genuinely broken system.

Afternoon also sometimes clears up a little, like around 3:30. No promises but I've had better luck then than mid-morning.

That tracks with how EDD's reasonable assurance analysis tends to work in practice. A written letter is a pretty clear signal. A verbal 'see you next year' is fuzzier, and no communication at all gives EDD less to point to. Your friend who got denied should check the Notice of Determination carefully - there's an Appeal Form (DE 1000M) attached and she has 30 days from the mailing date on the notice to appeal if she disagrees.

She already missed the 30 days I think. She said she got the letter in June and threw it away because she assumed it was final.

A late appeal can sometimes still be accepted if she can explain why she missed the deadline - like she didn't understand the process or didn't know she had appeal rights. It's not guaranteed but it's worth submitting a written appeal letter explaining the delay and asking EDD to accept it late. Better than doing nothing.

I'll tell her that. She's pretty defeated about it at this point.

CalJOBS registration is required for most claimants - EDD sends a Notice of Requirement to Register for Work (DE 8405) and you have 21 days from that date to register and post a resume at caljobs.ca.gov or payments can stop. EDD will tell you if you're exempt. Being a school worker expecting to return doesn't automatically exempt you from registering - you'd need to confirm with EDD whether your situation qualifies for an exemption.

I did register in CalJOBS but I didn't post a resume because I figured I didn't need one since I'm just going back to the same job. That could be a problem?

Posting the resume is part of the registration requirement, not optional. Log back into CalJOBS and add one - even a basic one - as soon as you can. It doesn't have to be a job search resume in the traditional sense, it just needs to be there.

Doing that right now. Thank you for catching that.

Completely different things. The phone interview is EDD gathering information before they make a decision - it's their way of hearing both sides when there's an open eligibility question like the school employee situation. An appeal hearing is what you request after EDD has already decided and you disagree with their Notice of Determination. The appeal goes to a different office entirely (the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board) and an administrative law judge runs it.

So the phone interview comes first and if I don't like what EDD decides after that, then I can appeal?

Exactly. Phone interview, then EDD's decision, then if you disagree with the decision you have 30 days from the mailing date on the Notice of Determination to file a written appeal using the DE 1000M form that comes with it.

Live chat through the Help button in UI Online runs Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It can be a decent option for straightforward questions. For something complex like a school employee eligibility issue, the phone tends to be better because the agent can actually pull up your claim and see what's flagged on it.

The hours are kind of brutal if you work a morning shift somewhere. 9 to 2 doesn't leave a lot of room.

I actually had no idea about that until I read it in this thread. So the first certification usually covers the waiting week and then one week that actually pays?

Yep, that's pretty much it. The waiting week counts toward your claim, it just doesn't pay out. After that the certifications cover two weeks and both should pay if you're eligible.

Does the waiting week eat into the total number of weeks you can collect?

The waiting week doesn't reduce the total amount your claim can pay - the max benefit amount stays the same. It's just that first week is unpaid, so you're not losing a paid week from your total, it just delays when money first hits.

Without appealing it's hard to know if the determination was right or not. Reasonable assurance has to be based on something specific - a letter, a verbal commitment, your contract terms. If EDD relied on something that wasn't actually solid, an appeal could have challenged it. For anyone reading who gets denied: file the appeal within 30 days, even if you're not sure you'll win.

My supervisor had emailed me saying 'plan on being back in September' and I guess EDD got that from the employer side. I didn't even know the employer had responded to EDD's inquiry until after.

That email is pretty much what EDD would treat as reasonable assurance in writing. The employer notifying EDD of it is their right - EDD sends a Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed (DE 1101CZ) to the last employer and they respond within 10 days. What the employer says about return expectations is part of EDD's analysis.

How many weeks total did you end up getting paid?

Eleven weeks of the thirteen I certified for. The first week was the waiting week and one other week had an issue I never fully understood. The money came through in two separate batches - the held-up weeks all paid at once after EDD closed the issue.

Eleven weeks is not nothing. That could really make a difference for cafeteria worker wages.

EDD's requirement is that you're able to work, available for work, and looking for work every week you certify - it doesn't say the jobs have to be in your exact field. So yes, being available means you're open to other work, not just school food service. During the summer you'd need to be genuinely looking for work, whatever kind you're able to do.

What counts as looking for work though? Do you have to apply to a certain number of places?

EDD doesn't publish a specific number of applications required per week - their pages don't give a set count. Just make sure you're genuinely job searching and can describe what you've done if asked. Keeping your own notes on where you applied is a smart habit regardless.

If the interviewer phones at 8:15 on Thursday and you don't answer, phone EDD at 1-800-300-5616 that same day - don't wait. If you let it go without reaching out, EDD decides your eligibility based only on what they already have, which could mean a denial or delay in payments.

What if I need to change it beforehand? I might have a conflict that Thursday.

Contact EDD at least one day before the interview if you need to reschedule. They can only give you an open time slot, so it's not guaranteed you'll get a better time, but it's better than missing it entirely.

Calling tomorrow to try to move it. I can't risk missing it after waiting this long for the notice to even show up.

Vacation pay is on EDD's list of things to report when you certify - you report it for the week it was earned, not when the check landed. EDD decides how it affects that week's payment. So yes, report it on the certification for the week school ended.

The check came on the last day of school so it was all in the same week. I'll make sure to report it for that week.

Using the Report Wages option in UI Online before you certify can help you sort out the numbers for that week. It's there for working out what to enter before you submit the certification.

I didn't even know AJCC had workshops. Are those just walk-in or do you have to register?

Mine required registering ahead but it was easy. They had a job fair too which I skipped since I knew I was going back to the school but some of my classmates from the resume workshop actually found new work from it.

AJCCs are genuinely underused. People think they're just for people who need job placement but the resources are open to anyone collecting UI.

The employer's response does matter a lot. If the district doesn't respond to that DE 1101CZ within 10 days, EDD decides without employer input, and an employer that didn't respond can't appeal EDD's decision afterward. That's the rule as EDD lays it out.

My HR department is not exactly on top of paperwork so maybe that worked in my favor last summer.

Now I really wish my coworker's HR had been as slow. That HR letter was what killed her claim.

The ID.me thing is a whole separate nightmare. I thought I completed it but I'm not sure EDD's system actually shows it done. How do you even tell?

The UI Online homepage sometimes shows identity verification status but honestly the most reliable way I found was asking EDD directly, which is how I found out mine had a lag. The agent could see the actual status on their end.

An identity issue is totally different from the reasonable assurance issue right? Those are two different holds on the same claim?

Can be both at the same time, yeah. My pending was identity-related in the end. The reasonable assurance interview might still happen once identity clears.

They let you certify and collect during an appeal? Or do payments stop until the appeal is decided?

You keep certifying during the appeal - EDD can only pay those weeks if you certified them. If you stop certifying and win the appeal, they can't go back and pay the weeks you skipped. Keep certifying no matter what.

Nobody told me that when I got denied two years ago. I stopped certifying immediately and just gave up. So even if I had appealed I would have lost those weeks.

That's the detail that bites people. The notice doesn't exactly advertise it in bold. Keep certifying, keep certifying.

This is actually really useful because I was worried CalJOBS was my holdup too. I might try reaching an agent just to confirm what's actually flagged.

Knowing which specific issue is holding things up makes the wait feel less like a black box. The agent can see the actual flags on the claim.