If you get fired from a job can you draw unemployment in California EDD?

How long does it usually take before they contact me about that interview? I haven't gotten anything in the mail yet and it's been about five days.

Usually within a couple weeks of filing you'll get the interview notice (it's the DE 4800 form) in the mail. The date and time the interviewer phones you will be on that notice and also on your UI Online homepage. Keep your phone nearby at that exact time - missing it can delay or even stop your payments.

The DE 4800 is easy to miss because it looks like junk mail honestly, so open everything EDD sends you even if it looks unimportant.

Did you have written documentation too or just verbal stuff? I have the doctor's notes but nothing from HR saying they were received.

Had written notes plus a couple of texts. The agent said to bring everything - better to have more than you need. I'd also try to get something in writing from the hospital if you can, even a discharge summary with dates.

This is a good point about documentation. Even printing out a text exchange with your manager where you informed them about the absence adds to your case at the interview.

Layoffs and firings are handled differently. A layoff is out of work through no fault of your own, so there usually isn't a question about eligibility and no interview needed. When someone is fired, EDD needs to hear from both sides to decide if there was actual misconduct - that's when the phone interview gets scheduled.

Oh okay that makes sense, I was confusing the two situations. So the interview is specifically because there's a dispute about why the person left.

Yeah and it goes both ways - if you quit EDD also wants to hear from you about whether you had a good reason. The interview is basically for any situation where the reason for separation isn't clear-cut.

That DE 1446UI - is that something only overpayment situations use or is it relevant to a new claim too?

Waiver form is specifically for overpayments when you're asking EDD to forgive the debt. Not relevant to your situation right now, but keep the name in the back of your head just in case.

The overpayment stuff is genuinely terrifying. I had a small one and it took forever to sort out even when I had everything documented correctly.

So theoretically if my old job doesn't bother responding I might not even need the interview?

EDD can still schedule one to hear your side even if the employer doesn't respond. The interview is partly for you to tell your story, not just to mediate a dispute. But an employer who doesn't engage certainly can't appeal EDD's initial decision.

My former employer actually missed that window and I still had an interview - EDD wanted to hear my account directly regardless. Got approved though.

EDD doesn't publish a detailed checklist but their standard is basically: did you deliberately do something wrong, or did you behave in a way that showed you didn't care about keeping your job? A genuine emergency with your parent in the hospital is not that. Forgetting to call in once might not be that either. It's more about intentional rule-breaking or serious negligence.

So it's more of a judgment call than a strict rule. That's both reassuring and kind of nerve-wracking at the same time.

The judgment call part is exactly why the phone interview matters so much. The way you explain your situation to the interviewer shapes how they write it up for the determination.

How did you handle it when they asked about the "insubordination" label specifically? Did you have to argue against that term?

Didn't argue the word, just explained what actually happened. I told them I declined to work hours that weren't on my schedule and weren't going to be paid. EDD wasn't interested in the label my employer used - they wanted to know what actually took place.

This is the advice I wish I'd had. Arguing semantics with the interviewer is a losing battle. Facts and timeline, that's it.

I haven't gotten any notice about that yet. Is it something that comes automatically or do I need to go do it on my own?

Watch for a notice called the DE 8405 - that's when the clock starts. If you get it, you've got 21 days from that date to get registered on caljobs.ca.gov and have a resume posted. If EDD says you're exempt they'll tell you.

Don't wait around for the notice to arrive before making an account. Getting set up early means you're not scrambling when the deadline starts.

Wait so the first week I'm never getting paid for no matter what? That seems kind of brutal when you're already in a tough spot.

Yeah everyone has that one unpaid waiting week - it's built into every claim. The good news is it doesn't come off your total benefit amount, so you still get the full 26 weeks worth of payments, just the very first one is the waiting week.

I did NOT know the waiting week doesn't reduce your total. That's actually less bad than I thought.

Your friend has it mixed up. You can't just refile to get around a denial. If EDD sends you a Notice of Determination (the DE 1080CZ) that says you don't qualify, you have 30 days from the mailing date on that notice to appeal in writing. You'd use the Appeal Form (DE 1000M) that comes with the notice, or write a letter. The case goes to an administrative law judge from there.

So the appeal is a whole separate process, not just submitting a new application. Good to know before my own interview next week.

And keep certifying through the whole appeal process even if you've been denied. EDD can only pay those weeks if you've certified for them. Don't stop just because you got a denial.

Nope - the weekly benefit amount is calculated from your wages in the base period regardless of how you left the job. It comes from your highest-earning quarter in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. How you left only affects whether you qualify at all, not how much you'd get if you do.

Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The wages are the wages regardless of how the job ended.

I only had about eight months at this job but I also had zero write-ups or warnings. Is that worth bringing up even with the shorter tenure?

Absolutely mention it. No documentation of any issues before this termination is relevant regardless of how long you worked there. If they were going to fire you over attendance they should have put something in writing first.

The lack of a paper trail on the employer's side is actually a significant factor. If there were real ongoing attendance problems they would have documented them.

What would make the weekly amount wrong? Is it usually pretty accurate?

Sometimes a quarter of wages doesn't get reported by an employer correctly, or there's a data entry issue. Usually it's right, but if the number seems way lower than your actual earnings it's worth investigating before that 30-day window closes.

You can also use the Unemployment Benefit Calculator on EDD's site to get a rough estimate before the DE 429Z arrives, so you know roughly what to expect.

Part-time earnings get reported when you certify for the weeks you worked them - Report Wages in UI Online handles this. The first 25 dollars or 25 percent of your gross earnings for the week, whichever is bigger, doesn't count against you. Everything above that gets subtracted from your weekly benefit amount. So you can still get partial benefits even while working part-time.

What if the part-time work eventually turns into full-time? Do I just stop certifying?

Full-time work ends your eligibility for that week. Keep certifying accurately and report what you're earning honestly - that's what keeps you out of overpayment territory.

By exact numbers you mean the actual dollar amount on each paycheck for that week, not the rounded salary figure?

Gross earnings for the week the work was performed, not when the check arrived. So if you worked a week in October but got paid in November, it goes on the October week.

The "when earned not when paid" thing tripped me up too. EDD's certification questions are a little confusing about this until you understand the system.

Had an issue where my ID.me verification seemed to process fine on their end but EDD still showed pending for identity. Ended up calling EDD - used Claimyr to actually reach someone - the agent told me they had received the verification but it hadn't linked to my claim yet, and they manually flagged it on their side. Payments started processing within a few days after that.

So it can be a sync issue between ID.me and EDD rather than a problem with the verification itself. Good to know there's a way to get that looked at directly.

The ID.me process itself was fine for me but I've seen a lot of people in this situation mention that their claim just sits in pending with no explanation because of that exact disconnect.

Let's hope I don't get to that stage but it's useful to know how it works. What's the appeal form called again?

DE 1000M - it comes attached to your Notice of Determination if you're denied. Or you can write a letter and mail it to the address on the notice. The mailing date on the notice is what starts your 30-day clock, not when you receive it, so open EDD mail the same day it arrives.

The 30 days from mailing date, not receipt date, is a detail that bites people. If EDD mailed it on the 1st and you got it on the 5th, your deadline is still 30 days from the 1st.

New claims typically take around three weeks to process before the first payment comes through. If there's a phone interview involved because of a termination or quit, it takes longer because payments can't go out until after the interview, the certification, and EDD's decision all happen. Two months suggests something got held up - either a pending identity issue, a missed interview, or an adjudication question EDD was still working through.

My friend said she never got the interview notice so she missed the call. Is that the kind of thing you can call EDD to fix?

Missing the interview isn't fatal but you should phone EDD that same day if you miss it - waiting makes it worse. If she missed it a while ago and payments stopped, she definitely needs to reach EDD directly to explain and get it rescheduled if possible.

I had about eight months at this job before the termination, earning around $22 an hour full time. Does that give me enough of a history to get a decent benefit amount?

Eight months full-time at that wage should land you well above the minimum. The EDD calculator will give you a real estimate - just punch in your quarterly earnings. Your wages need to hit at least $1,300 in one quarter to even have a valid claim, and it sounds like you're way past that threshold.

Eight months at full time hours at $22 an hour is roughly $15k per quarter - you're definitely in a good position for the wage threshold part.

This is genuinely helpful to hear. Did they ask a lot about the specific dates of the absences or was it more about the general pattern?

Both, honestly. They wanted to know exact dates, whether I notified the employer, how I notified them, whether the notification was before or after the absence, and whether I provided documentation when I returned. The more specific you can be, the better.

The notification timing question - whether you told them before or during versus after the absence - seems to matter a lot from what I've heard. Gets at whether the employer had a chance to plan around it.