How will unemployment know if I work while collecting California EDD benefits?

Wait so if I earn $200 doing deliveries EDD actually pays me LESS than $380 that week? How does that work out to more money?

The math: $200 earned, the 25% exemption is $50 (bigger than the flat $25), so $150 gets subtracted from your $380 weekly benefit. EDD pays $230. Add your $200 earnings and you have $430 total. Without working you'd have $380. Working part-time puts more money in your pocket.

This is the clearest explanation of the earnings formula I've seen on here. The 25% exemption thing confused me for weeks.

does the 25 or 25% thing change based on what your weekly benefit amount is or is it always just on the earnings side

What if my cousin just pays me cash and doesn't formally put me on payroll? I'm not asking to do anything shady I'm just wondering how that changes things.

Legally you're still supposed to report cash wages. And if your cousin's business ever gets audited for any reason, those cash payments could surface. The overpayment risk isn't worth it - report what you earn.

yeah cash doesn't mean invisible, it just means you're the only honest party at risk if anything comes up later

That's actually really helpful to hear. How did EDD catch it - was it the quarterly wage thing?

EDD didn't tell me exactly how they caught it, just that the wages I reported didn't match what was in their records for that week. I think it was the quarterly report from the employer.

this is why the "week it was earned" rule matters so much - people report the week they got the check and then it doesn't match what the employer filed

I didn't know EDD notified the employer when you file a claim. Does that mean my old job knows I filed?

Your last employer gets the notice, yes. That's how EDD gets both sides of the story when there's any question about why you stopped working. It's standard.

So EDD already notified my old warehouse - that's wild, I had no idea.

How did you keep track of which week you earned what when sometimes apps pay out on a weird schedule?

For gig stuff I kept a simple note on my phone - date worked, hours, what I estimated I'd earn. Then when I certified I used the Report Wages tool in UI Online before submitting. Made it easy.

The Report Wages option in UI Online is specifically for this - you enter wages before certifying and it tracks the week they were earned. Really underused feature.

A one-day gig caused a month delay? That seems really harsh for an honest mistake.

It wasn't a full month of no money, just that specific period was held up while they investigated. I called in, explained it was a reporting error, and they resolved it. Annoying but survivable.

the word adjudication gets thrown around a lot - for people who don't know, it basically means EDD is reviewing something about your eligibility before they pay that period

Mostly right - Report Wages lets you enter what you earned before certifying so the numbers are ready. It doesn't lock anything in until you actually certify. It doesn't fix a week that's already been certified wrong though - for that you'd need to contact EDD directly.

ok good I wasn't totally off. I always do Report Wages first then certify right after so it's fresh in my head

Self-employment income is on the list of things to report when you certify too. The same earnings formula applies. What counts as your wages for self-employment purposes - like whether it's gross revenue or profit - is something to verify directly with EDD because the specifics can depend on your situation.

okay that's what I figured, I'll ask EDD when I call. thanks

I reported self employment income last year and EDD just asked me to report gross earnings for the week, same as any other work. But yeah confirming with an agent is the right call for your specific setup

20 days - so there's not like a huge gap where I could work and nothing would happen?

No real gap. And even if there were, the quarterly wage filing catches everything eventually. EDD has time to find discrepancies.

the quarterly wage reporting thing is what caught an old roommate of mine - he worked a few weeks of part time, figured it was too small to matter, and EDD sent him an overpayment notice about four months later

Good point I hadn't thought about stuff like that. It's just delivery shifts for now but good to know.

EDD's list of reportable income is actually pretty long. When in doubt, report it. The penalty for underreporting is way worse than getting a slightly lower payment one week.

Are the certification questions like a quiz where there are right and wrong answers they're checking, or is it more like a form?

More like a form with specific yes/no questions followed by number boxes. It's not a trick, it's just asking you to report accurately.

the questions feel a little intimidating the first time you do them but once you go through it once it's just routine

How long did it take to clear up once you sent the documentation?

About three weeks from when I sent it in to when my payments were released for that period. It was frustrating but EDD did resolve it.

documentation situations like this are why keeping your own records of when you work is so valuable - dates, hours, what you earned - even just in your notes app

EDD expects people to work while collecting? I thought the whole point was you're supposed to be unemployed?

You need to be available and looking for full-time work, but part-time work while you're on UI is fine. You just report it and your benefit adjusts. EDD doesn't want people to turn down part-time work to stay on UI.

right, the goal of UI is to bridge the gap while you find full-time work, not to make you refuse any shift that comes along

So you're actively doing this right now and it's working fine? That's actually reassuring.

Yep. I actually called EDD early on to double-check I was doing it right. The agent confirmed the gross earnings for the week earned is what I report. As long as I'm still available and looking for full-time work, the part-time retail doesn't affect my eligibility at all.

wait really social security doesn't affect UI? I always assumed it did

Nope, social security benefits don't reduce your UI payment and you don't report them when you certify. Pension income from past work might reduce it though, and EDD decides how much.

To be precise - Social Security benefits aren't deducted from unemployment and aren't reported when certifying. That's correct per EDD's own guidelines. Good call catching that distinction.

Yeah that's why I said EDD decides how much on the pension side. Didn't want to put a number on it because it varies.

Makes sense. The presenter at the workshop also emphasized the work search requirement - even if you're doing some part-time shifts you still have to be actively looking for full-time work and keeping track of your search activity.

I've been doing my work search activities, that part I knew about. It's just the reporting of earnings that was confusing me.

I did get that notice and I registered already. Good call flagging it though.

Good. A lot of people miss that deadline because they think UI Online certifying is all they need to do. CalJOBS is a separate system at caljobs.ca.gov.

the CalJOBS requirement tripped me up my first claim - I didn't know it existed and it paused my payments for a week while EDD sorted it out

So severance is different from regular wages in terms of how it affects the claim?

The agent explained it as: severance under a company plan or policy doesn't block your claim or get subtracted the same way wages do, but you still answer the certification question honestly. EDD handles it from there.

this matches what I've seen in HR - severance under a written policy is treated differently from regular wages, though the claimant still answers the certification truthfully and EDD sorts the technical side

By 'employer' do you mean my old warehouse job or any employer I work for while on UI?

Any employer in your base period or during the current benefit year. The quarterly wage filing from your cousin's business would be in that window.

This is the thing people don't consider - it's not just a single check at the end. The employer filings roll in on their own schedule and EDD compares them to certifications on an ongoing basis.

California taxes UI benefits too or just federal?

Just federal. California doesn't tax unemployment benefits, which is one small mercy. The 1099G is for your federal return only.

i always forget that california doesn't tax UI, that's genuinely one of the better things about filing here

Okay this whole thread has been really helpful. So to summarize what I'm hearing: report what I earn for the week I do the work, not when I get paid, report it when I certify, and EDD adjusts my payment. And EDD has multiple ways to verify this through employer filings and wage records.

That's exactly it. And keep being available for full-time work and doing your work search. The delivery shifts don't have to stop your job search, they just supplement your income while you look.

Good summary. The 25% exemption means part-time work actually puts more in your pocket than just sitting on UI alone. Report it accurately and you're in good shape.

Also worth remembering: Claimyr got through for the person above on a severance question - if you have a specific scenario that the online info doesn't answer clearly, talking to an EDD agent directly is always the right call. The phone number is 1-800-300-5616, weekdays 8 to 5.