Getting unemployment when fired - what California EDD actually looks at

The interview date is on UI Online too? I haven't looked at the homepage carefully - I've been going straight to Claim History. Going to check that right now, thank you.

DE 4800 is the notice to watch for in the mail - has the date, time, and what questions they're likely to cover. Keep your phone free at that time because the interviewer phones at the time listed on it.

Exactly what the agent confirmed to me - they said the interviewer phones at the scheduled time, so don't let it go to voicemail if you can help it.

That's a relief honestly. I kept seeing Pending and assuming the worst. So I just wait for the interview at this point?

Pretty much. Prepare to explain your side clearly - what the policy was, whether you knew about it, any context that shows the firing wasn't because of serious wrongdoing on your part. The employer has to actually show misconduct happened, it's not automatic just because they say so.

wait does that mean if the employer doesnt respond edd just approves it?? asking bc my old job never sent anything after i got fired

That's helpful context. My supervisor said I violated a safety checklist procedure but I genuinely didn't understand the new protocol - no one trained me on it formally. Would that matter to EDD?

Lack of training is exactly the kind of thing to bring up in the interview. It goes to whether you deliberately ignored something or just weren't properly set up to follow it. Bring any details you have - when you were hired, what training you did or didn't receive, whether anyone else got the same instruction.

this is why i always saved my onboarding paperwork lol. learned that the hard way with my first job. document EVERYTHING when you start somewhere new

Different things. Adjudication is the whole process EDD goes through to decide eligibility when there's a question - like a firing or a quit. The phone interview is one piece of that process, where they actually talk to you and your former employer separately. After both interviews EDD makes the decision and sends the Notice of Determination. So adjudication is the umbrella, the interview is a step inside it.

Oh okay that makes way more sense. So the interview isn't the final answer, the notice is the final answer. Got it.

and you can appeal the notice if you disagree with it! 30 days from the date on the notice, that's your window to file. just want to make sure people know that because I didn't when I first went through this

That's genuinely encouraging to hear. Did you have to get a lawyer or did you represent yourself at the hearing?

Represented myself. You can bring someone - a union rep, an attorney, a friend who knows the system - but you don't have to. I brought all my own pay stubs and an email chain that showed my manager knew about the situation and said nothing at the time. The judge was fair about hearing both sides.

the burden of proof thing is real, employers often just don't have the paperwork to back up what they said in their response to edd

I did my first certification but got nervous because nothing changed in UI Online after I submitted it. Is that normal?

Completely normal. UI Online updates daily but changes in status during adjudication can take a while. The payment information line at 1-866-333-4606 also updates daily if you want to check without logging in.

i made the mistake of stopping certifications when i got denied thinking there was no point. then i won my appeal and found out they could only pay weeks i had actually certified for. lost like 6 weeks of payments because of that. don't stop certifying people

I did get that in the mail actually - shows a weekly amount around $310. So that part is set, it's just the eligibility question that's still open?

Exactly right. The DE 429Z just shows what the claim can pay per week based on your earnings history. The actual eligibility decision around the firing is separate and comes through the interview and then the Notice of Determination.

i thought the DE 429Z meant i was approved lmao. wish someone had explained that earlier, i stopped worrying when i got it and then was totally blindsided by the denial letter later

No fixed timeline that EDD publishes - it varies based on how complicated the eligibility question is and how quickly the employer responds to their side of things. Three weeks post-interview isn't unusual, especially if EDD is waiting on documentation from the former employer. The Notice of Determination comes by mail when it's decided.

Mine took almost five weeks from interview to notice. I know the waiting is brutal. Keep certifying and try not to read too much into the Pending status.

Five weeks, okay. I'll try to be patient. At least now I know Pending isn't automatically bad news.

Good catch, that distinction matters a lot. Fired: employer's job to show misconduct. Quit: your job to show a real reason for leaving. EDD's own process for each is completely different and the interview questions will be different too.

I definitely had these backwards in my head. So in a fired situation the person filing unemployment is basically in a better starting position than if they quit?

Generally yes, in the sense that the burden sits on the employer to prove something, not on you to prove something. That doesn't mean every firing gets approved, but the bar is specifically misconduct, which requires more than just 'they weren't meeting expectations.

This is really practical, thank you. I'm going to dig through my onboarding email from when I started and see what policy documents they actually sent me.

Exactly - look for any email where they described the safety procedures, any handbook you might have been sent, any acknowledgment forms. Also think about whether anyone else was doing the same thing you did and whether they got in trouble for it.

selective enforcement is a real thing and edd does take it into account from what ive heard. like if the whole floor was doing x and only you got fired for it that matters

Filing date affects when your claim starts, not what comes up in the interview. The interview is focused on the reason for separation - why you stopped working. The disputed hours situation might come up if it's related to why you were let go, but EDD is mainly asking about the firing itself and whether it involved misconduct.

okay so i should focus on the firing reason and not get into a whole tangent about the hours thing unless they ask specifically about it

Right. Answer what they ask clearly and completely, but don't pile on extra information unprompted. If the hours dispute is relevant they'll ask. If it's not related to why you were fired, it probably won't come up in the eligibility interview.

That's such a painful thing to find out after the fact. I'm glad I filed immediately even though I wasn't sure about my chances.

this is so common. people assume fired = no benefits and just don't apply. edd's whole point is they decide, not your employer and not you guessing at the outcome beforehand

I did not know this, thank you! I haven't done CalJOBS yet. What's the site?

caljobs.ca.gov - you create a profile and upload a resume. EDD sends a notice (DE 8405) telling you that you need to register, and from that date you've got 21 days. Missing it can stop payments, so worth getting it done.

Yep the DE 8405 is the one to watch for. EDD will tell you if you're exempt from the CalJOBS requirement, but most claimants aren't.

This is really helpful to hear as a real example. Did you have to do anything specific to prepare or did you just answer the questions as honestly as you could?

Mostly honest answers, but I did write out a timeline beforehand so I had the dates straight in my head - when I was hired, when the incident happened, what was said to me and by who. Having the dates organized made me feel way less scattered during the interview itself.

The timeline idea is great. EDD interviewers ask very specific questions about dates and sequence of events, so being fuzzy on those doesn't help your case even if your overall story is solid.

Your coworker has it backwards. EDD's guidance says severance paid under a company plan or policy isn't counted the same way as regular wages for unemployment purposes and doesn't block your benefits. You still report it when certifying because it's on the list of things EDD asks about, but it doesn't automatically cancel anything out. EDD makes the call on how it affects your specific payment.

oh thank goodness. i was about to not file because of that. so i still file, still report the severance, and edd figures out what it means for my payments?

Exactly. File right away, report what you received honestly when certifying, and let EDD do the math. The worst thing is not filing because someone told you it doesn't apply to you.

The UI Online message option, is that through the Help button or somewhere else in the account?

It's in your UI Online account - there's a messaging option in there. Not the live chat from the Help button, that's a separate thing that works Monday to Friday 9 to 2 during business hours. The message option lets you send something and wait for a reply without staying logged in.

The live chat is actually pretty useful during those hours if you want something faster than waiting for a message reply. I used it for a quick status question and got an answer within a few minutes of connecting.

I definitely had those confused earlier in this thread, glad someone clarified. So the order is: file, interview, Notice of Determination, then appeal if you need to?

That's exactly the sequence. And if EDD approves you after the interview you won't get a denial notice at all - they just process payments for the weeks you certified. The Notice of Determination is specifically what comes when EDD decides either way on an eligibility question like misconduct.

i thought i was supposed to request an appeal right after the interview because i was nervous. glad i waited and read the actual notice first

That's exactly what I needed to hear. My former employer used 'policy violation' and I've been convinced that phrase alone was going to sink my claim. It sounds like what matters is the actual facts, not the label they put on it.

Exactly. EDD is looking at the specifics, not the category name on a form. What did you actually do, did you know you weren't supposed to do it, had anyone told you clearly beforehand? The label is where your employer starts, not where EDD ends.

My denial said 'misconduct' across the top and I was devastated until I read the actual reasoning underneath, which I could address point by point in my appeal. Read everything in the notice carefully because the reasoning is what actually matters for how you respond.

That's a good idea to verify before the interview rather than wonder about it. Did you need anything specific set up ahead of time to use it?

Pretty straightforward - went to claimyr.com and it handled the hold situation so I ended up talking directly with the EDD agent. The agent was who actually looked at my account and answered my questions.

The certification question thing is worth taking seriously because an error there can complicate a claim that's already in adjudication. Good call to verify before the interview.

The weekly benefit amount comes from your earnings in the base period - highest paid quarter of that period feeds into the calculation - and doesn't change based on the reason for your separation. A misconduct denial doesn't shrink your WBA. What it does is disqualify you from collecting at all during the disqualification period. If you appeal and win, you'd collect at the amount on your DE 429Z, same as if you'd been approved the first time.

That makes sense - so the WBA is kind of locked in based on what you earned, and the misconduct question is purely about whether you can access it at all.

Well put. The DE 429Z sets the amount, the interview and determination set whether you can collect. Two separate questions even though they're part of the same claim.

This is actually a really good point that doesn't come up enough. If you have any ability to negotiate your exit from a job, the framing of that exit matters a lot for your claim. Layoff is the cleanest situation by far.

Exactly. I'm not saying do anything shady, just that if an employer gives you the option to resign 'voluntarily' versus being formally terminated, that choice has real downstream effects on your unemployment claim. Talk to whoever you can before agreeing to anything.

i agreed to sign something saying i resigned when really they were letting me go anyway and it completely tanked my unemployment claim. cost me months of benefits to sort out. never sign that stuff without thinking it through

Good heads up. I'm not planning to reschedule but I didn't know you had to do it at least a day ahead. I'll make sure I keep the full day of my interview clear just in case.

Keeping the whole day free is smart. You don't know exactly when within your window they'll call and you don't want to miss it. If you do miss it, phone EDD that same day - waiting longer makes the situation harder to fix.

Missing the interview without contacting EDD the same day can mean EDD decides the claim with just what they already have, which usually isn't great for the claimant. Same-day contact is the rule if something goes wrong.

Right, working for a nonprofit doesn't block you from filing or collecting - former employees of nonprofits file and are paid just like anyone else. How the nonprofit handles its UI tax situation on the employer side is their thing to deal with, not something that changes whether you as a former employee can claim.

Someone at the nonprofit itself told me I shouldn't bother filing which is why I almost didn't. Glad I looked it up myself before accepting that.

employers sometimes say stuff like that and it's almost never accurate. edd decides who qualifies. your old employer doesn't decide that for you.

I had no idea about the Money Network card - I assumed they'd just mail a check or something. Good to know in advance so I'm not confused when payment eventually comes through.

A lot of people don't know until it shows up. You can also check your payment status daily through UI Online or call 1-866-333-4606 anytime - that line runs 24 hours and has payment info.

Switching to direct deposit is easy to do in myEDD if you prefer that over the card - just log in and look for payment options. Either way works fine, just a preference thing.

Oh wow, I did not think about taxes at all. I'll set up the federal withholding - that seems smarter than getting a surprise bill later.

Definitely worth doing from the start. You can change that withholding election any time when you certify, so it's not a permanent decision, but past weeks stay as whatever you chose then.

the 1099G also matters if you apply for CalFresh or other assistance because they count unemployment as income. just something to be aware of if you're exploring other help while waiting for your claim to work out