Can you collect unemployment if you get social security? California EDD question

That is such a relief to read. I was genuinely losing sleep over this. My paystubs from the warehouse should show solid wages for at least three of those quarters, so hopefully I'm in decent shape.

Agreed with everything above. Worth adding — EDD's own Unemployment Benefit Calculator on their site can give you a rough estimate before the DE 429Z arrives, so you're not just guessing while you wait.

Found the calculator, plugged in my numbers, and I'm estimated around $310 a week. That's not everything but it covers the gap. Thank you both.

The waiting week thing is good to know — I would have panicked exactly the same way seeing $0. And useful to hear that Social Security isn't something to enter during certification.

Pensions are a different story than Social Security though right? I thought pensions could reduce your weekly benefit but SS doesn't?

Pensions may reduce benefits and EDD decides by how much — that's EDD's call based on the specifics. Social Security is explicitly not deducted and you do not report it. Those two things are handled completely differently.

Exactly what the person above said. My pension situation ended up not reducing anything on my claim but the agent explained that EDD looks at it case by case. Social Security was never part of that conversation.

My hours were actually normal up until the week of the layoff so I think my numbers are clean. But helpful for anyone else reading this who had their hours cut gradually.

Also worth knowing — if for some reason the standard base period doesn't have enough wages to make your claim valid, EDD automatically looks at an alternate base period using the last four completed quarters. You don't have to ask for it, they check it on their own.

Right, and the alternate base period only kicks in when the standard one isn't enough to establish a valid claim. It won't bump up your weekly amount if you already qualify — just there to help people who'd otherwise have no valid claim at all.

I haven't gotten that notice yet but I'm writing this down right now. CalJOBS, 21 days, post a resume. Got it.

Is that required for everyone? I filed a couple years back and I don't remember doing CalJOBS at all.

EDD decides who needs to do it. Some claimants are exempt — if you are, the notice just won't come. But if it does show up in your mail, take it seriously because the deadline is real.

Correct. EDD tells you in that notice whether you're required to register. If you never get one, you're likely exempt for your situation. When in doubt, checking in with EDD directly is the move.

Good to know. I'm not planning to rush into anything but if something part-time comes along I won't turn it down out of fear it'll wipe out my UI.

Does full-time work during a claim just end that week entirely or does the formula still apply?

Full-time work ends eligibility for that specific week, no matter what it pays. The earnings formula the person above is describing is only for part-time work. If you go full-time even once, that week just isn't a UI week.

And don't forget you report wages in the week they were earned, not when the deposit hits your account. That catches people when they certify a week that spans two pay periods.

Bookmarked the number. I'll probably wait a week or two to see if things move on their own first, then try the phone line if something looks stuck.

Phone line during peak hours is brutal. I called at 8:02 a.m. once and still sat on hold for over an hour before getting hung up on. Try calling right at 8 if you go that route.

Early morning is definitely better than mid-afternoon. The 8 a.m. calls tend to have shorter hold times in my experience, though it still varies a lot by day.

I had no idea employers even got notified when you file. I'm not worried about anything on my end — it was a clean layoff with a full group of us — but good context to have.

Does that mean the employer can deny the claim? I always thought they could block you from getting benefits.

Employers don't get to deny a claim. EDD makes that call. The employer can share information about why the separation happened, but EDD is the one that decides eligibility based on what both sides report. An employer that doesn't respond at all just loses the ability to appeal EDD's decision later.

Mine went through ID.me fine when I applied online, so hopefully that piece is already handled. If I see DE 1326C in my mailbox I'll know what it means now.

My ID.me verification sat 'in review' for almost two weeks and my Claim History showed pending the whole time. Eventually cleared with no action from me beyond the original submission. Just patience.

That's pretty common. ID.me reviews take varying amounts of time and there's usually nothing additional to do once you've submitted the photos. The pending status just reflects that EDD is waiting on confirmation from ID.me.

Social Security benefits are not wages and they're not part of the base period calculation at all. Your base period is built from wages you earned working — W-2 type income from employers. SS income plays no role in whether you qualify or what your weekly benefit amount is.

That's what I figured. My neighbor said it with such confidence I started to doubt myself. Thanks for the confirmation.

SS not being reported during certification AND not counting toward the base period are two separate things but both are true. Neither side of it affects your unemployment claim.

I'd forgotten about taxes on UI benefits. I'll probably opt into the 10 percent withholding to keep things clean — last thing I need is a surprise tax bill while I'm already tight on money.

The withholding option comes up during the certification process. You can change your preference at any time by going through the certification again, it's not locked in permanently.

Right, and even if you don't withhold you can pay estimated taxes quarterly through the IRS if you'd rather hold the money and manage it yourself. Some people prefer that approach.

I actually got one week of severance from the warehouse. I'll report it when I certify the week it was for, like you said, and let EDD sort it out. Good to hear it didn't blow up your situation.

EDD's guidance says severance paid under a company plan or policy isn't counted as wages for UI purposes, so it typically doesn't reduce your benefit. But report it anyway because it's on the list of income to report — EDD makes the final call on how it's treated.

Exactly. Report it and let EDD decide. Don't just not report it because you read somewhere it doesn't count — always report and let them determine how it affects your specific situation.

This is exactly the kind of thing that would send me into a spiral. I'm going to log into CalJOBS right now and double-check that my resume is marked active, even though I haven't gotten the DE 8405 yet.

The 'active' resume step in CalJOBS gets people all the time. You can upload a resume and think you're done but if the status isn't set to searchable or active it doesn't count as posted for EDD purposes.

Yep, the upload and the status are two different things. Worth logging in and confirming both are done correctly rather than finding out six weeks later when your payments are on hold.

Oh I definitely would have made that exact mistake. I'll keep my expectations neutral until I actually see payments moving.

DE 1080CZ with the Appeal Form (DE 1000M) is what comes if EDD denies you. You'd have 30 calendar days from the mailing date on that notice to appeal in writing. But a denial only comes if something specific about your eligibility is in question — a straight layoff with clean wages usually doesn't generate one.

Right. I brought it up not to scare anyone but because I'd seen a few people here celebrate their DE 429Z as an approval and then be confused when their weeks stayed pending. Just want the expectation to be accurate.

Knowing what the interview actually covers is helpful. I've been building up this idea in my head that they'd grill me about my age or my SS status and I'd have to defend myself. Sounds like it's much more straightforward than that.

For a clean layoff the interview sometimes doesn't happen at all. EDD schedules a phone interview when there's a question about why someone stopped working — if the layoff is documented and straightforward, you might not hear from them on that front.

True, mine got scheduled because my employer apparently noted 'position eliminated' and then also mentioned 'performance' somewhere in their response, which created a flag. For a clean group layoff it may not come up at all like the person above says.

Hopefully I never need any of this but I'm glad I know the steps. 30 days from the mailing date, DE 1000M, mail it to the address on the notice. Noted.

Keep certifying during an appeal too — if you stop certifying while appealing and then win, EDD can only pay weeks that were actually certified. Missing certifications means missing back pay even if the appeal goes your way.

That is one of the most important things in this whole thread. Certify every two weeks no matter what. Even if everything is pending or denied or under appeal, keep certifying so those weeks are on the record if something resolves in your favor.

I set up direct deposit when I applied, good to know that was the right call. And the 24-hour automated line for checking payment status is news to me — that's actually really useful for the anxious middle-of-the-night checking I will absolutely be doing.

The automated line also handles Tele-Cert at 1-866-333-4606, option 2. So if the UI Online website is ever down or giving you trouble on a certification day, you can certify by phone with that same number.

Good addition. Having the phone certification option as a backup has saved a few people I know from missing their two-week window when the site was acting up.

That's genuinely reassuring to know. I always worry I'll accidentally report something wrong and end up in trouble. Good to know honest mistakes vs. fraud are treated differently.

The key thing with overpayments is reporting accurately every time. Report wages in the week earned, report all income types on EDD's list, let EDD determine how each one affects the payment. If EDD makes a calculation error on their end that's a different situation from someone who underreported income on purpose.

Exactly. Mine was clearly their system miscalculating a week I'd certified correctly. The documentation I'd kept of what I reported made it easy to show the error wasn't mine. Keep records of your certifications.

Starting the clock from the printed date and not the received date is a critical detail. I'm going to treat it as a one-week deadline mentally just to give myself buffer.

The CalJOBS registration itself doesn't take that long — maybe 20 minutes to set up a profile and get a resume uploaded and marked active. The annoying part is that the site can be slow. Do it on a desktop if possible.

Desktop browser is definitely smoother. The mobile version of CalJOBS has gotten better but still has some frustrating quirks when you're trying to format and upload a resume.

I hadn't thought about CalFresh at all but my budget is stretched enough that it might be worth looking into. I'll check BenefitsCal once I know what my actual UI amount will be each week.

Health coverage is another gap people don't think about right away. Covered California is an option regardless of income level, and COBRA can keep your existing plan going if you had employer coverage. Both are worth comparing once you know what your monthly budget looks like.

COBRA from the warehouse was going to cost me more per month than half my UI payment so that's out. I'll look at Covered California — hadn't heard it described as income-independent before, that changes things.

I set a recurring calendar alert as soon as I filed. I've heard too many stories of people forgetting to certify and losing two weeks of benefits.

UI Online shows when your next certification is due on the homepage once your claim is active. I also use the EDD Tele-Cert line as backup confirmation that my certification went through — it's faster than waiting for the UI Online screen to refresh.

Confirming submission through the automated line is a habit worth building. The UI Online confirmation screen should show it went through, but double-checking never hurts when your income depends on it.

Report-when-earned catches a lot of people going the other direction too — getting a paycheck during a UI week that covers work you did before the layoff and forgetting to report it because you think it's 'old' income. When the check arrives doesn't matter, when the work happened is what counts.

Exactly. I almost made that mistake with a final expense reimbursement check that came in after my last day. Called EDD to ask and the agent confirmed reimbursements aren't wages so I didn't need to report it — but always better to ask if you're unsure than to guess.

The final partial week thing is exactly my situation too. I'll make sure I report those earnings for the week I actually worked them and not wait to see when the deposit hits.