EDD partial benefits confusion - Will I get paid for working 22 hours each week?

Yes, you should still receive partial benefits! EDD has a formula for this. They subtract $25 or 25% of your weekly benefit amount (whichever is greater) from your weekly earnings. Then they subtract that result from your weekly benefit amount to determine your partial payment. So with your $345 weekly benefit amount: $345 × 25% = $86.25 They'll disregard $86.25 of your earnings $418 - $86.25 = $331.75 $345 - $331.75 = $13.25 You should get around $13 per week. Not much, but you're still eligible. Your status is probably "pending" because they're calculating the partial payment or possibly doing a review since your income situation changed.

I was in kinda same boat last year. My hrs got cut to 25 a week and I still got a small amount from edd. Like $20 something. It stayed pending for like a week tho b4 it switched to paid. just wait it out

I actually think you'll get slightly more than what the other person calculated. In 2025, EDD is using a slightly different formula. They let you keep the greater of $25 OR 25% of your WBA before reducing benefits. So that's $86.25 in your case. Your WBA: $345 Your earnings: $418 Disregard amount: $86.25 Countable earnings: $331.75 Partial benefit: $13.25 It's not much, but more importantly, even receiving $1 in unemployment means you remain attached to your claim. This is useful if your hours drop further in the future - you won't need to file a new claim, just continue certifying.

THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED!!! They DELIBERATELY make it CONFUSING so people give up claiming what they're owed! I worked part time for MONTHS and EDD kept switching between paying me and putting me in pending hell. When I FINALLY got through to someone they told me there was a "quarterly review" flag on my account that no one bothered to tell me about!!! Had to wait 6 WEEKS with no money because of their mistake!!!!

If you're stuck on pending for more than a week, you should try to get through to an EDD rep. I had a similar issue with partial benefits and it turned out they needed to verify something with my employer. Once I talked to a rep, they fixed it in minutes. I used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to EDD after failing for days on my own. They have a service that connects you with EDD without the endless redials. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km Totally worth it since I was going crazy trying to get through on my own. The rep was able to immediately see what was causing my pending status and fixed it while I was on the phone.

Just FYI partial benefits r different from regular unemployment so u might get flagged for an eligibility interview. happened to me back in november. not saying it will happen to u but just be ready if they call. also make sure ur certifying correctly about ur availabilty for fulltime work cuz that can mess stuff up to.

wait so if u make less than ur weekly benefit amount u still get something?? i thought if u worked at all u got nothing. lol i probably left money on the table last year 🤦‍♀️

I just want to say good luck with this! I was in a similar situation last year and the anxiety of not knowing if I'd get paid was awful. Hope it works out for you!

One more thing to note - make sure you continue certifying every two weeks even if you're working part-time hours. As long as your claim is active and you're earning less than your weekly benefit amount, you should continue the certification process. This keeps your claim active and ensures you'll receive benefits if your hours drop further.

Hey Aria! I went through almost the exact same thing a few months ago when my retail hours got cut from 35 to about 20 per week. The pending status is totally normal for partial benefits - it usually takes 3-5 business days for them to calculate everything and switch it to "paid." One thing that really helped me was keeping detailed records of my hours and earnings each week, just in case they ever needed verification. Also, don't panic if it stays pending a bit longer than usual - sometimes they do random reviews on partial benefit claims, but it doesn't mean there's a problem with your claim. You're doing everything right by reporting honestly. The partial benefit amount might seem small, but like others mentioned, it keeps your claim active which is super important if your hours fluctuate. Hang in there - the restaurant industry is tough right now but things will get better!

I'm going through something similar right now! My hours at the grocery store got cut from 32 to 18 hours per week last month. I was so confused about whether I could still get benefits while working part-time, but reading through all these responses is super helpful. The calculation breakdown really makes it clear how the partial benefits work. I'm still waiting for my first partial payment to process - been pending for about 4 days now. It's nerve-wracking not knowing when it'll switch to paid, but sounds like that's pretty normal. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! It really helps to know other people have been through this and gotten it sorted out. @Aria Khan - hope your pending status clears up soon! Sounds like you're doing everything right by reporting your hours honestly.