Can you get unemployment if you are part time and your hours get cut even more?

So I should file even though I'm still going in those 8 hours? I was scared they'd say I'm not really unemployed enough or something.

Yep file now. Partial unemployment is a real thing and your situation - hours cut way down through no fault of yours - is exactly what it covers. The sooner the better since there's no backdating.

How does the math actually work for partial? Like does every dollar you earn knock a dollar off what EDD pays?

Not dollar for dollar - there's a buffer. The first $25 or 25 percent of what you earned that week, whichever is bigger, gets ignored. Only the amount above that gets subtracted from your weekly benefit. So if EDD figured your weekly amount at say $280 and you earned $190 that week, 25 percent of $190 is $47.50, so they'd subtract $142.50 from your benefit and you'd get about $137 or so for that week. Worth filing for sure.

Pending weeks are my biggest worry honestly. Did they tell you what specifically to check in CalJOBS to fix the registration issue?

The agent said my resume wasn't marked as searchable in CalJOBS, which apparently is part of what EDD looks for. Once I updated that setting the hold cleared. Worth double checking yours once your claim is active.

CalJOBS registration tripped me up too. The deadline to register is 21 days from the date on the notice they mail you - miss that and payments can stop. I didn't realize it wasn't optional.

Does everyone on a partial claim have to do CalJOBS or just people who lost their jobs completely?

EDD still requires you to be available for more work and looking for work every week you certify, yes. Having part-time hours doesn't automatically get you out of it. You still certify every two weeks and answer whether you were able and available for work.

Ugh okay. So even at 8 hours a week you're still supposed to be actively job hunting? That feels like a lot when you're hoping your old hours come back.

The work search requirement is real. EDD doesn't publish a specific number of contacts you need to make each week but you do have to be genuinely available and looking. Some people keep a simple log of where they applied just for their own records.

Does applying to get more hours AT your current employer count as a work search activity? Like if I formally ask my supervisor to restore my hours would that count?

Wait so the waiting week is still a thing even on partial claims? Not just for full unemployment?

Yes the waiting week applies regardless. Every claim has that one unpaid first week. My first certification covered the waiting week plus week two, and I only got paid for week two. It stung but that's how it goes.

Same thing happened to me and I called EDD thinking they messed up my payment. The rep explained the waiting week and I felt a little dumb but also relieved it wasn't an error. First payment always looks short for that reason.

Does the waiting week count toward your 26 weeks total or is it kind of like a freebie that doesn't eat into your benefit balance?

Oh that's actually good to know. So the 26 weeks worth of payments is still fully intact even after the waiting week. Thanks for clearing that up.

I had no idea about this. I thought the waiting week was week one of your 26 weeks and you just didn't get paid for it.

Nope - think of it as a separate unpaid qualifier period. Your benefit weeks and the money attached to them are still all there after you serve it.

It's based on your past earnings, not your current reduced pay. EDD looks at a base period - basically your wages from roughly the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. The highest-paid quarter of that window is what drives the weekly benefit amount calculation. Your current 8 hours doesn't set the floor, your historical wages do. EDD has a calculator on its site where you can estimate it before you file.

So if I was making good money back when I was full time, those older wages could actually give me a decent weekly amount even now? That's better than I thought.

Exactly - the base period wage calculation often works in people's favor when they had stronger earnings in the past. File sooner rather than later because the base period shifts over time.

This is really helpful. I was assuming EDD would base everything on my current garbage 8-hour pay and it would be almost nothing. Good to know the history matters.

What happens if you forget to report wages one certification period? Like accidentally forget to include a week?

You'd want to contact EDD through your UI Online account or phone them to correct it. There's a Report Wages option in UI Online but that only works before certifying for that period - once you've submitted, you have to reach out to EDD directly to fix it.

The every-two-weeks thing confused me for my first month. I kept logging in after one week expecting to certify and nothing was available. Felt like I was doing something wrong.

EDD does notify the last employer, yes. They mail a notice to your employer when you file. That said, you're entitled to file - an employer cutting your hours involuntarily is exactly the situation partial claims exist for. Your employer can respond to EDD but they can't legally retaliate against you for filing a claim.

Okay that's what I was afraid of. My situation is a little complicated because my manager and I already have tension. I'll have to think about whether the financial hit is worth the potential awkwardness.

For what it's worth, most employers don't respond even when they get the notice. And the alternative is continuing to lose hundreds of dollars a week. The EDD process is there for exactly this situation.

Oh I did work somewhere else before this warehouse job. About 10 months ago I was at a distribution center for a few months before switching. Would those wages factor in?

Almost certainly yes if they fall in your base period window. When you apply, list every employer from the last 18 months with dates and wages. EDD will pull the records and determine what counts. Those months at the distribution center could meaningfully raise your benefit amount.

This happened to me too - I had a gap job during my base period I almost didn't mention and it ended up pushing my weekly amount higher. Definitely report everything.

Pending in Claim History usually means EDD is working something out on eligibility or needs to verify something. It doesn't always mean you did something wrong. Could be the employer responded to the claim notice with something that triggered a review, or it could be a CalJOBS registration thing. The only real way to know is to reach EDD directly.

I've been trying to get through on the phone for four days with no luck. Keeps dumping me after a long hold. Any other way to reach them?

Live chat through the Help button in UI Online runs Monday through Friday, 9 to 2. It's hit or miss but I've had better luck with it than the phone on some days. 1-800-300-5616 at exactly 8am Monday sometimes gets through faster too.

That's exactly the situation I'm worried about - my employer contesting it. Did the agent give you any sense of what to say in the interview?

The agent said just be specific and factual: dates, who told me about the cut, what reason was given. The interview is where EDD hears both sides, so having a clear timeline of what happened matters.

If the employer says the hours cut was voluntary and you say it wasn't, does EDD just believe whoever they want or is there a process?

From what the agent told me, EDD interviews both you and the employer separately and makes a decision based on what both sides say. If EDD decides you don't qualify they'd mail a Notice of Determination and you can appeal within 30 days if you disagree.

Same application, same myEDD portal. When you're filling out the application you just accurately describe your situation - still employed, hours reduced involuntarily, here are my wages. EDD handles classifying it on their end. There isn't a separate partial claim form you have to find.

Okay that makes it less intimidating. I kept looking for a separate partial UI form and couldn't find one so I thought maybe I wasn't eligible at all.

I made the same assumption. Thought partial claims were some special harder-to-qualify program. It's just the regular application with your actual current situation described honestly.

Severance paid under a company plan or policy generally isn't treated as wages by EDD for unemployment purposes, so it doesn't automatically disqualify you. That said, EDD still wants you to report it when you certify - EDD's list of things to report when certifying includes severance pay. EDD decides how it affects any given payment. You can file your partial claim right away and report the severance as the certifications ask you to.

So I shouldn't just not mention it and hope for the best? I was nervous that disclosing it would tank my payments.

Always report what EDD asks for. Not reporting income when certifying is the kind of thing that creates overpayment notices later, which is a much bigger headache than whatever impact reporting it might have on a given week's payment.

Can I ask a related thing - my employer offered me extra hours during one week as a one-time thing to cover for a coworker. If I work more hours that one week does it mess up the whole claim?

That's a relief. I was worried that if I picked up an extra shift once I'd somehow lose the whole claim and have to start over.

EDD recalculates every certification period based on what you actually earned. One higher week doesn't void anything. The system is set up to handle exactly this kind of variation in part-time work.

Does full-time hours for one week end that week's eligibility entirely? Like if you happened to work 40 hours one week?

Full-time work does end eligibility for that specific week - whatever it pays. The partial earnings formula is for part-time weeks only. But again, one full-time week doesn't kill the claim, you'd just not receive a payment for that particular week.

Day 19 is cutting it close - the deadline is 21 days from the notice date right? Did they actually mail you a warning or did you just notice in time?

They mailed a warning, yes. The notice I got about registering in CalJOBS had the 21-day deadline printed on it and I'd kind of set it aside. The warning letter spooked me enough to log into CalJOBS that same afternoon.

What does the DE 429Z actually show? I keep seeing it mentioned but I'm not sure what information is on it.

It shows your weekly benefit amount and your maximum benefit amount for the claim. It's not an approval exactly - EDD still has to decide you're eligible week by week when you certify - but it tells you what your claim is set up to pay if everything goes through.

Wait California doesn't tax unemployment? I did not know that. I've been mentally budgeting for state tax on those payments and I can free up some of that buffer.

Correct - exempt from California state income tax. Federal is what you have to plan for. EDD mails a 1099G every January and it's also in UI Online under Payments.

The withholding option is worth taking seriously. I didn't withhold when I collected a few years ago and ended up with an unexpected federal tax bill in the spring. This time I'm withholding from day one.

Pension income based on past work can reduce your weekly benefit, but EDD decides how much of a reduction happens on your specific claim - there isn't a fixed formula you can calculate yourself. When you certify you'd report the pension payment and EDD applies its own calculation. Worth filing your partial claim and reporting both the wages and the pension as asked - don't leave either out.

So I should still file and just report everything honestly and let EDD sort it out? I wasn't sure if the pension would just automatically disqualify me from getting anything.

Filing and reporting accurately is always the right move. Disqualification from a pension situation isn't automatic - EDD makes that call based on the specifics. The only way to know what your actual payment would be is to file and see.

How does EDD even know what pension you're receiving - does your old employer report it or do you self-report when certifying?

This explains what happened to mine. I filed, everything looked fine for two weeks, then suddenly my weeks went Pending. Must be when my employer responded.

That timing matches exactly. EDD's review kicks in when conflicting information comes in from both sides. The phone interview is how they sort it out - both you and the employer give EDD your versions and EDD decides from there.

Is there any way to know what your employer said in their response to EDD? Or is it just a black box until the interview?

The DE 4800 interview notice EDD sends you will list the questions likely to be asked, which gives you a signal about what issues EDD is looking into. But you don't get to see the employer's actual response before the interview.

This is so helpful to hear from someone who just went through it. Did you have any issues with identity verification when you applied or did it go smoothly?

Had to verify through ID.me, which took about 20 minutes but wasn't terrible. Had my state ID and went through their photo process. The claim wasn't active until that was done so don't skip it.

The ID.me step tripped a lot of people up when EDD first implemented it. Sounds like it's smoother now. Good to hear you're through to the payment stage.

My ID.me verification had a glitch and EDD sent me a DE 1326C in the mail asking me to verify separately. Took almost a week extra. If yours goes through ID.me clean you're ahead of where I was.

This is a real point. I asked EDD about it on live chat and the agent said being available means being genuinely open to accepting full-time work somewhere else if it came along. If you're only waiting for your old hours back and would turn down other jobs, that gets complicated.

Exactly - availability for work is a weekly eligibility requirement, not a checkbox. It needs to be true when you certify it.

I am genuinely looking for a different job with better hours, so this isn't an issue for me. But I could see how someone hoping their employer just fixes things would get into a gray area here.

The honest answer to that is to actually apply to jobs while you're on the partial claim. Even if you'd prefer your old hours back, being active in the market keeps your certification truthful and gives you options.

If the full-time hours get cut again later, can you reopen the same claim or do you have to file all over again?

The agent confirmed I could reopen the existing claim through UI Online as long as my benefit year was still open. Much faster than starting from scratch. The benefit year runs 52 weeks from when you originally filed.

This is actually reassuring - I was afraid that if I took extra hours for a few weeks I'd have to refile completely when they went back down.

I hadn't even thought about CalFresh as an option alongside unemployment. I'll look into it - at the wage I'm at right now I might qualify.

Worth a check. The income thresholds are set by the county so the only way to know is to actually apply or call and ask. Some people assume they won't qualify and don't apply when they would have.

Used BenefitsCal last year during a job gap and the application is pretty straightforward. They ask for income documentation including any unemployment award letters so have your DE 429Z handy.

The ID.me sync issue is exactly what I think happened with mine. Did the agent say how common that is or was your situation unusual?

The agent said it comes up enough that they have a process for it. If ID.me shows verified on your end but EDD still shows pending, calling in and having an agent manually check is the fix.

So there are cases where you do everything right - ID.me verification, CalJOBS, certifying - and it still gets stuck because of a backend sync issue? That's frustrating.

Pretty much. The only real indicator something is wrong is Pending weeks in Claim History and nothing moving. At that point reaching an agent is the only way to find out what's actually stuck.