How to check my EDD penalty weeks balance without calling?
Been struggling with this EDD penalty week situation and it's driving me nuts! I received an overpayment notice saying I need to repay $5,800 and that I've been assessed penalty weeks, but nowhere does it say HOW MANY penalty weeks I have to serve. I've checked UI Online under Claim History, Payment Activity, and even the Notices section but can't find this info anywhere. My payments show as 'disqualified-penalty week' but I have no clue how many more weeks I need to go through before I can actually receive benefits again. Is this info hidden somewhere in the portal that I'm missing? Really trying to avoid calling EDD if possible since my work schedule makes it nearly impossible. Has anyone figured out where to check your remaining penalty week balance?
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NebulaNomad
check ur determination letter, should say how many weeks there
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Ravi Sharma
•That's the problem - my determination letter just says 'penalty weeks have been applied' but doesn't give me a number. It focuses more on the overpayment amount.
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Freya Thomsen
Unfortunately, EDD doesn't display your total penalty weeks count anywhere in the UI Online portal - a major oversight in their system design. The only official ways to get this information are: 1. Check your original Notice of Determination that assessed the penalty weeks (though you mentioned it's not there) 2. Call EDD directly and speak with a representative 3. Submit a question through UI Online messaging (but responses often take 7-10 business days) Penalty weeks are typically calculated as a percentage of the overpayment amount, usually around 30% of the total weeks that would equal your overpayment. So for a $5,800 overpayment, if your weekly benefit amount was $450, that would be roughly 13 weeks of benefits, and your penalty could be around 4 weeks - but this is just an estimation and varies by case.
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Ravi Sharma
•Thank you for explaining this! That estimation helps at least give me a ballpark idea. It seems ridiculous that they'd hide such important information. My weekly benefit amount is $520, so I guess I'm looking at around 3-4 penalty weeks based on your calculation method.
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Omar Fawaz
I went through something similar last year. The only way I found out my exact penalty week count was by sending a message through the Contact EDD feature in UI Online. I specifically asked "How many penalty weeks remain on my claim?" and they responded in about 5 days with the exact number. Much easier than calling!
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Ravi Sharma
•That's a great idea! I'll try sending a message through the Contact EDD feature today. 5 days is still a wait but better than trying to call endlessly.
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Chloe Martin
When i had penalty weeks back in 2023 I tried EVERYTHING to find out how many i had and eneded up wasting 3 full days trying to call EDD. Kept getting the "we're experiencing high call volume" message and then it would hang up on me!!! So frustrating!!!!
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Diego Rojas
•I had the exact same experience trying to reach EDD about my penalty weeks. After days of failed attempts, I ended up using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an EDD rep. Their service basically holds your place in line and calls you when they connect with an agent. Saved me hours of redial frustration. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km. The rep I spoke with gave me my exact penalty week count and explained when I could expect benefits again.
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Anastasia Sokolov
The EDD system is DESIGNED to be confusing and difficult to navigate. They WANT you to give up trying to get the benefits you're entitled to! It's absolutely CRIMINAL how they hide crucial information like penalty week counts. I had 6 penalty weeks last year and spent HOURS trying to figure out how many I had left. The whole system needs to be redesigned from scratch.
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Freya Thomsen
•While the system certainly has frustrating elements, I don't think it's deliberately designed to be confusing. The UI Online system was built over many years with different technologies, and information gaps like this are usually oversights rather than intentional barriers. That said, I completely agree they should display penalty week counts clearly in the portal.
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StarSeeker
Has anyone tried looking in the Appeal section? I think my friend said something about her penalty weeks showing up there because technically you could appeal the penalty week decision. Just a thought!
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Ravi Sharma
•I checked there too, unfortunately. It shows that I have a disqualification with penalty weeks, but still no count of how many weeks total. Thanks for the suggestion though!
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Omar Fawaz
Update for everyone: I just checked with my neighbor who works for EDD (not in claims, but in IT). He confirmed that the total penalty week count isn't visible anywhere in UI Online by design. Their system applies penalty weeks automatically in the background, but the actual count isn't displayed to claimants online. It's tracked internally in their system. The only way to get this information is to contact EDD directly - either through messaging or by phone.
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Ravi Sharma
•Thanks for checking! I sent a message through UI Online yesterday asking for my exact penalty week count. I'll update this thread once I get a response in case anyone else runs into this issue in the future.
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Ravi Sharma
UPDATE: Finally got an answer! I took the advice here and sent a message through Contact EDD in UI Online. It took 6 days, but they responded with my exact penalty week count (5 weeks total) and told me I've already served 2 of them. They also mentioned they're working on adding this information to the UI Online dashboard in a future update. For anyone else with this issue - definitely use the Contact EDD messaging feature and specifically ask "How many total penalty weeks have been assessed on my claim and how many have I served so far?"
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Freya Thomsen
•Great news! Thanks for updating the thread with what worked. This will definitely help others facing the same issue. And it's encouraging to hear they're planning to add this information to the dashboard in the future.
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