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

I'm so stressed about my benefits right now! My hours got cut at my restaurant job and I've been collecting unemployment for the past month. Last two weeks I worked exactly 22 hours each week (used to work 40). I just certified for these two weeks and reported all my hours honestly. Will EDD still give me some partial benefits or am I completely cut off now? My weekly benefit amount is $345 and I made about $418 each week from my reduced hours. The system accepted my certification but shows "pending" now instead of paid like before. Anyone know if I'll still get something or if working these reduced hours disqualifies me completely?

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.

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Aria Khan

Thank you so much! That makes sense with the calculation. Even $13 is better than nothing I guess. Do you know how long it usually stays pending when they're calculating partial payments?

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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

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Aria Khan

Thanks, that's reassuring! Did they ever call you or anything during that pending period or did it just automatically switch to paid eventually?

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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.

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Aria Khan

This is such helpful information, thank you! I didn't know about staying attached to the claim - that's important since my hours might keep fluctuating. Really appreciate the detailed breakdown.

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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!!!!

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omg yes this happened to me too! so frustrating

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Aria Khan

Oh no, that sounds horrible! I really hope I don't end up in a similar situation. Did they eventually fix it and pay you for all those weeks?

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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.

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Aria Khan

Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a few more days and if it doesn't change from pending, I'll check out that service. Did you have to wait long once you got connected?

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Not at all - that's the whole point of the service. They got me through to an EDD rep in about 25 minutes. Normally I would have spent hours redialing just to get the "we're experiencing high call volume" message. The rep immediately saw the issue with my partial benefits calculation and fixed it while I was on the phone.

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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.

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Aria Khan

Oh that's good to know! So should I be answering 'yes' to being available for full-time work even though I'm currently working part-time? I don't want to answer anything incorrectly.

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Yes, you should answer that you ARE available for full-time work (assuming that's true). EDD wants to know that you would take a full-time job if offered one. If you say you're not available for full-time work, they may determine you're not eligible for benefits. The point of unemployment is to help while you're seeking full-time work, even if you're temporarily accepting part-time hours.

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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 🤦‍♀️

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That's a common misconception! You can definitely work part-time and still receive partial unemployment benefits. As long as you earn less than your weekly benefit amount (after the earnings disregard), you'll receive something. Always report your work and earnings when certifying, but don't assume working automatically disqualifies you from benefits.

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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!

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Aria Khan

Thank you! It really is stressful not knowing. Appreciate the support!

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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.

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Aria Khan

That's good advice! I'll definitely keep certifying. I was worried that maybe I should stop since I'm working now, but it sounds like I should continue as long as I'm not back to full-time hours.

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