EDD certification confusion - 'supplemental unemployment benefits' question has me stuck
I'm in the middle of my weekly certification and I'm completely stuck on a question. I've only received payment for one week so far, but now the system is asking if I received income from 'supplemental unemployment benefits' and I have no idea what to answer. Does this mean the regular UI payment I already got from EDD? Or is it asking about something else? I'm afraid of answering wrong and getting my claim flagged or delayed. Should I mark yes since I did get one payment already? Or no because that was just regular unemployment? Really confused and don't want to mess this up!
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CosmicCaptain
Don't worry, this confuses a lot of people! You should answer NO to that question. 'Supplemental unemployment benefits' refers to additional money from your employer or a union, not your regular EDD payments. For example, some unions offer extra unemployment benefits to their members, or some companies have their own unemployment funds. Your regular UI benefits from EDD are NOT considered 'supplemental unemployment benefits' for certification purposes.
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Emma Davis
•Omg thank you!! I was about to click yes thinking it meant my previous payment. So relieved I asked first. One more question - do I need to report the regular UI payment I already received as 'other income' anywhere else in the certification?
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Malik Johnson
Same thing happened to me last month lol. I put YES and then my payment got held up for like 2 weeks while they sorted it out. don't make my mistake!!!
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Emma Davis
•Thanks for the warning! Definitely don't want to delay things any more than they already are.
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CosmicCaptain
To answer your follow-up question - no, you don't report your UI benefits as income on your certification. You only report other types of income like wages, self-employment, pension, etc. The EDD already knows about the UI payments they've sent you, so you don't need to report those back to them.
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Emma Davis
•Perfect! That makes total sense. Thank you so much for the clear explanation!
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Isabella Ferreira
They REALLY need to make these questions clearer on the certification!!! I swear half the issues people have with EDD is because their questions are so confusing and they use all this technical language that normal people don't understand. Like how are we supposed to know what "supplemental unemployment benefits" means if we're not HR experts????
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Ravi Sharma
•for real! Trying to figure out how to answer these certification questions correctly feels like taking a law exam sometimes
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Freya Thomsen
Just to give you a more complete explanation: "Supplemental Unemployment Benefits" (SUB) are specifically payments made by an employer or union to supplement regular unemployment benefits. These are typically part of a collective bargaining agreement or company policy. For example, some auto workers have union contracts that provide SUB pay during layoffs. This is completely different from your regular EDD benefits, which is why you should answer NO to this question if you're only receiving standard unemployment.
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Emma Davis
•Thank you for that detailed explanation! I definitely don't have anything like that from my employer, so I'll mark NO for sure.
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Omar Zaki
Just curious - what type of job did you have before? Some industries have these supplemental benefits but most don't. I've been on unemployment 3 times and never had to deal with those extra benefits.
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Emma Davis
•I worked in retail sales. Definitely no special unemployment benefits from them! Just trying to navigate the regular EDD system.
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AstroAce
If you're having trouble reaching EDD to get questions like this answered, I'd recommend checking out Claimyr (claimyr.com). They helped me get through to an actual EDD agent when I was stuck on certification questions. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km. Much better than trying to figure everything out yourself or waiting weeks for someone to call you back.
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Emma Davis
•That's good to know! Trying to call EDD has been impossible, it's always "maximum callers reached" no matter what time I try. I'll check out that link if I run into more issues with my certification.
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Malik Johnson
•Does this actually work?? I've been trying to get through for 3 weeks about my claim!!
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AstroAce
•@profile7 Yes, it worked for me! I was in the same boat, calling for weeks and never getting through. The service basically keeps dialing for you until it gets through, then connects you. Saved me tons of time and frustration.
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Ravi Sharma
pro tip: take screenshots of all ur answers when certifying!!!! saved me once when they said i entered something wrong. had proof i didnt
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Emma Davis
•That's smart! I'll start doing that. Thanks for the tip!
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Isabella Ferreira
Wait I have a similar question - what about the question that asks about "PUA benefits"? Is that different from regular unemployment too? I've been saying no but idk if that's right...
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CosmicCaptain
•PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) was a special program that ended in September 2021. It was for self-employed people, gig workers, and others who didn't qualify for regular UI. If you're on regular UI now in 2025, you should answer NO to that question too. That's actually another example of EDD not updating their forms properly.
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Malik Johnson
OMG I'm so glad you asked this question bc I literally had the same exact confusion yesterday!!! The EDD website is seriously from like 1995 or something lol
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