How much do you make on unemployment in California EDD?

Wait so the max is really only $450? That's less than half of what I was making. I guess I figured it would be closer to 60% or something.

Yeah the $450 cap is a real gut punch for anyone who was making decent wages. It hasn't kept up with the cost of living at all.

Correct, $450 is the ceiling no matter what you earned. The formula does roughly replace about 60-70% of wages at lower income levels but high earners get capped hard. That's just how it's structured in California.

Did the calculator estimate end up being pretty accurate? I tried it and it gave me a range but I wasn't sure how much to trust it.

Mine was off by maybe $12. The calculator is a solid estimate - the real number just depends on exactly which quarter EDD pulls as your highest.

Good to know the ID.me step can hold things up. I still haven't done mine and my application has been sitting there for a week.

No, $450 is the absolute cap in California regardless of prior wages. Someone making $200k a year gets the same max as someone making $60k once they both hit the ceiling. The legislature sets that cap and it doesn't move often.

It really should be higher given what rent costs in this state but here we are.

That's actually a really common confusion. The standard base period skips the most recent complete quarter on purpose - it goes back to the first four of the last five complete quarters. So if you filed in October, your most recent complete quarter (July through September) might be left out of the standard calculation. If that means your wages don't add up enough to qualify, EDD automatically tries an alternate base period that uses your four most recent complete quarters instead. But the alternate only kicks in if the standard base period doesn't give you a valid claim - it doesn't get used just to bump up your weekly amount.

So if I qualified under the standard base period I can't ask them to use the alternate even if the alternate would give me more money?

Right, that's how it works. The alternate is only there as a backup to get you qualified, not to increase your payment once you already have a valid claim.

I had no idea about the alternate base period. This whole system has so many layers.

Part-time earnings don't just get subtracted dollar for dollar. EDD lets you keep the first $25 or 25% of whatever you earned that week, whichever is bigger, and then the rest gets subtracted from your weekly benefit amount. So say your weekly benefit is $400 and you earned $150 in a week - 25% of $150 is $37.50, which beats $25, so you'd subtract $112.50 from your $400 and collect $287.50 that week.

Oh that's actually better than I expected. So part-time work doesn't just wipe out your benefits entirely.

You do have to report every dollar you earn though on the certification, and EDD wants you to report wages for the week you earned them, not when you actually got paid.

That's not right. Full-time work ends your eligibility for that entire week - the partial earnings formula only applies to part-time work. If you're working full time you don't get benefits for that week regardless of what you're paid.

Oh okay, I definitely had that wrong. Thanks for fixing that.

Yeah that's one of those things people get confused about a lot. The partial formula is specifically for part-time hours.

The benefit year runs 52 weeks from when you filed, but the actual payments max out at 26 weeks worth of your weekly benefit amount - or half your total base period wages, whichever is less. So the year is how long your claim is open, but you can only get paid on 26 weeks of it. After 26 weeks there's no automatic extension right now, no general federal or state extension program currently running.

So basically half a year of payments max. That's what I thought but someone told me it was longer now.

26 weeks is what I'd been told too. Enough to bridge a gap but you really have to be job hunting the whole time.

Most claimants do have to register in CalJOBS and get a resume posted there within 21 days of the date on the notice EDD sends (the DE 8405). If you skip it your payments can get held up. EDD will tell you if you're one of the exceptions who doesn't need to.

Where does the DE 8405 come in the mail? Is it separate from the award notice?

Yes it's a separate mailing. The DE 429Z is the award notice showing your weekly amount, and the DE 8405 is the notice about the CalJOBS requirement if it applies to you. They don't always come at the same time.

You can appeal the DE 429Z if you think the wages they used are wrong. You have 30 days from the mailing date on the notice to appeal in writing. Before doing that though, double-check which quarter they pulled as your highest - remember the standard base period might have left out your most recent quarter, and if your claim is already valid the alternate base period wouldn't apply to raise your amount.

The mailing date was two weeks ago so I still have time then. I'll pull out my pay stubs and compare.

Pay stubs are exactly what you'd want when appealing a wage discrepancy. If EDD used the wrong numbers you can show what your actual earnings were.

Severance paid under a company policy or plan isn't counted as wages for unemployment purposes, so you can file your California EDD claim right away and it won't be denied just because you got severance. That said, it still shows up on the list of things EDD asks you to report when you certify, so you report it and EDD makes the final call on how it affects your specific weeks.

So I shouldn't have waited two months to apply? I thought I had to wait until the severance ran out.

A lot of people wait and that costs them weeks they could have been collecting. File as soon as you're out of work - your claim starts on the Sunday of the week you apply so every week you delay is a week you can't get back.

I did not know that either. I've been putting off applying thinking I needed to sort through some paperwork first.

They're taxed federally - the IRS counts unemployment as regular income. California doesn't tax them at the state level though, which is one of the few upsides. When you certify each time you can opt to have 10% withheld automatically for federal taxes, which saves you from a bill at the end of the year. EDD sends a 1099G in January.

I had no idea California doesn't tax them. That's actually a nice break.

The federal tax still adds up over 26 weeks so the withholding option is worth using if you can absorb a slightly smaller payment each week.

It's fixed from the start - whatever the DE 429Z shows is what you get every eligible week for the life of the claim. It doesn't adjust for inflation or cost of living while you're collecting.

Makes sense I guess, it just would be nice if it tracked with expenses somehow.

Hours cuts qualify - you don't have to be fully unemployed. Apply as soon as your hours get reduced and you'd collect a partial benefit based on what you earn those weeks versus your weekly benefit amount.

That's a relief. I was afraid it was only for people who lost their job completely.

Same situation happened to me last spring and I did collect partial benefits for a few months before the hours came back up.

Those are two completely separate things. The phone interview (you get a notice called the DE 4800 that tells you the date and time, and that's when the interviewer phones) is EDD asking questions before they decide your eligibility - it usually happens when there's a question about why you left your job. An appeal hearing is something you request after EDD has already denied your claim and mailed you a Notice of Determination. Very different stages of the process.

Okay that makes so much more sense now. I was worried the interview itself was like a legal proceeding or something.

I had the same mix-up honestly. The DE 4800 notice makes it sound scarier than it is from what I've heard.

Pending weeks in Claim History just means EDD is still working through your eligibility or verifying your identity. It takes roughly three weeks to process a new application and get the first payment out. If it goes much longer than that you may need to follow up with EDD directly.

Three weeks feels like forever when bills are due but okay I'll try to be patient.

My pending status cleared around week three too. The waiting is rough but that timeline is pretty standard for a new claim.

This is genuinely useful, thank you. I haven't done mine yet and was going to try it tonight indoors.

Seriously try natural light if you can. I burned through probably eight attempts before I figured that out.

My bank app had the same issue with photo ID uploads. Natural light really does make a huge difference.

A pension based on your past work can reduce unemployment benefits in California - EDD decides how much of a reduction applies. It's not necessarily a full dollar-for-dollar reduction but it can lower the weekly benefit amount. Worth asking EDD directly about his specific pension situation so there are no surprises.

Good to know it's not automatic disqualification at least. I'll have him ask EDD about it.

Don't verify identity for a claim you didn't file - go straight to reporting it as fraud. You can do it through Ask EDD on EDD's site using the Report Fraud option, or call 1-866-401-2849.

I actually did fill out some identity verification form they sent before I realized what was happening. Should I still report it?

Yes, still report it right away through Ask EDD or that fraud line and explain what happened. The sooner EDD knows the better.

Ten days is still within the normal window - EDD says the initial documents take about two weeks to arrive and the full application takes around three weeks to process. If you're past three weeks with nothing, then it's worth reaching out to EDD to check on things.

Okay, I'll wait until the two-week mark and then follow up. I just get paranoid every time the mailbox is empty.

Had a similar wait with my claim. Used Claimyr to get through to EDD when things stretched past three weeks - the agent told me my award notice had been generated and was in the mail, which at least let me stop obsessing over the mailbox.

The waiting is genuinely stressful. I keep checking UI Online every few hours even though nothing changes that fast.

Every week you certify you have to confirm you were able to work, available for work, and actively looking. EDD doesn't publish a specific number of applications you need to submit, but you have to genuinely be looking. A lot of people keep a personal log of where they applied just to have it if EDD ever asks.

So there's no magic number like 3 applications a week or anything like that?

No specific number is set by EDD - the requirement is that you're genuinely doing a job search each week you claim. Some people track their contacts anyway as a habit but it's not a written rule with a number attached.

I've been keeping a spreadsheet just to feel organized about it. CalJOBS also has job listings worth using while you're searching.

EDD does notify the last employer when you file - they get a DE 1101CZ in the mail and have 10 days to respond. If there's a question about why you left, both you and the employer get a phone interview and EDD decides after hearing both sides. Your boss being annoyed doesn't disqualify you on its own - EDD looks at the actual facts of why you separated.

I was laid off so hopefully that's straightforward and there's no dispute. I just get anxious about anything involving my old job.

If it was a genuine layoff you should be in a pretty clear spot. EDD's whole framework is that layoffs happen through no fault of yours.

Really glad you flagged that. Unreported wages when certifying can result in an overpayment finding, and if EDD decides it was intentional they can add a 30% penalty on top of what you have to repay. It can also lead to a disqualification period of up to 23 weeks. The reporting rules exist and EDD does cross-check wage data.

My roommate genuinely thought nobody would notice but the risk is way too high.

EDD gets wage data from employers so even cash payments often show up eventually if someone files taxes on them.

The waiting week is the first eligible week of your claim - it doesn't get paid. Think of it as a one-week unpaid deductible. Your first certification usually covers both the waiting week and the first week that does get paid, so you typically see one week paid when that first certification goes through. It doesn't reduce your total number of paid weeks though - you can still collect on 26 weeks of payments, the waiting week is just on top of that.

So I still get paid for 26 weeks, just not week one. That's clearer than how EDD's site explained it to me.

I had the same question and kept misreading it as one fewer week of benefits. Good clarification.