If you owe unemployment can you still collect? California EDD overpayment question

That's actually a relief to hear. So they'd kind of garnish my payments automatically? I didn't realize that was how it worked. I figured it was more like they'd just refuse to pay anything.

Same thing happened with my brother-in-law - wait no he's in a different state. But I think California does it this way too. file and find out what happens

The word 'garnish' doesn't quite apply here - EDD just offsets your benefit payments toward the overpayment balance. It comes out before you see the money on your card. The result is similar but it's technically EDD collecting from their own payments, not a wage garnishment.

How long did it take before your new payments started coming through after you filed? I'm stressed about having nothing coming in at all during the gap.

EDD takes roughly three weeks to process a brand new application before the first payment usually goes out. And you've got the waiting week on top of that - first week is always unpaid, no way around it.

For me it was close to three and a half weeks before anything posted to the Money Network card. The overpayment deduction showed up starting with the second payment.

DE 1446UI is the waiver form if you want to try getting the overpayment forgiven rather than just repaid from benefits. Non-fraud overpayments can sometimes be waived if paying it back would cause real hardship and it wasn't your fault. Worth looking into before all your payments start getting reduced.

EDD doesn't publish a fixed percentage anywhere I've found. It seems to vary. Best bet is to actually ask EDD directly because they'd know exactly what will be deducted on your specific account. UI Online live chat might be able to tell you, it runs weekdays 9 to 2 from the Help button once you're logged in.

Okay I'll try the live chat. I keep avoiding it because last time I tried it was always showing unavailable but I'll give it another shot.

Phone line at 1-800-300-5616 is another option, weekdays 8 to 5. Getting through is the hard part obviously but once you do they can look at your account and tell you exactly what to expect.

The pending weeks thing worries me too. How long did your interview take to get scheduled after you filed?

About a week and a half after I filed I got the DE 4800 notice in the mail with the interview date and time on it. The UI Online homepage also showed the scheduled time. Just had to keep the phone nearby at that time and the interviewer called.

For people reading this - if you miss that scheduled interview, phone EDD the same day. If you don't, they'll just decide based on what they have and you might not like the outcome.

Fraud overpayments work differently in a few ways. There's a 30 percent penalty tacked onto the original amount, and EDD can also hit you with a false statement disqualification anywhere from 2 to 23 weeks - meaning those weeks you can't collect even if you're otherwise eligible. So yes, it matters a lot which type yours is. The notice EDD sent you should say which one it is.

mine just says i need to repay and doesn't say fraud anywhere on it, so i think im okay? the form they sent had a DE number on it

If it doesn't say fraud on the notice you're probably looking at a non-fraud overpayment, which means no penalty and no disqualification weeks. Still has to be repaid, just without the extra consequences.

The notice number matters - a DE 1080CZ is a Notice of Determination and would lay out what type it is and your appeal rights if you disagreed with it. If you got that and it didn't say fraud, you're in the clearer situation described above.

Proactively setting up a repayment plan before the new claim shouldn't hurt and might feel better than waiting for automatic deductions. But it doesn't change whether EDD will also collect from future benefits - both things can happen. Contact EDD to ask about voluntary repayment options alongside a new claim.

That makes sense. I'd rather pay it down on my own terms if possible instead of having chunks taken out of weekly payments I'm going to need.

Repayment plans are definitely something EDD will work with you on for non-fraud overpayments. Have the documentation from your original overpayment notice ready when you call so they can pull up the right account balance.

On my new claim I didn't see a separate overpayment line in the UI Online screens. The deductions started showing in my payment amounts. The Claim History and Payments sections just showed reduced payment amounts without detailed breakdowns.

Ah okay so you wouldn't necessarily know the split unless you calculated it yourself or talked to EDD. That's kind of annoying but good to know what to expect.

EDD's payment info updates daily in UI Online under Payments. If you notice your payments are lower than your weekly benefit amount on the DE 429Z, that's when you'd want to contact EDD to understand what's being deducted and why.

How do I even know if mine qualifies as not my fault though? I genuinely thought I was reporting wages correctly. I was putting them down when I received the paycheck not when I earned them. That feels like an honest mistake to me.

Honest reporting mistakes where you misunderstood the instructions are exactly the kind of thing that often lands in non-fraud territory. Whether it rises to 'not your fault' enough for a waiver is what EDD decides when they review the DE 1446UI. Submitting it doesn't cost anything, worst they say is no.

Agreed that submitting the waiver request is worth trying. EDD will look at your financial situation and the circumstances of the overpayment together. Even if you don't get a full waiver, sometimes they come back with a reduced repayment arrangement.

That's accurate. EDD can pull from state and federal tax refunds, state lottery winnings, and other state money owed to you. They can also record a lien or pursue a court judgment. The benefit offset is just the most common path when someone files a new claim.

yeah it's pretty aggressive. not complaining just saying people should know the full picture when deciding whether to try to settle it or just let the deductions happen

The CalJOBS thing is something I totally forgot about. I think I registered years ago but I definitely haven't updated my resume on there in a long time. Is that going to be a problem for the new claim?

The notice EDD sends - DE 8405 - will tell you if you need to register. The agent told me most claimants have to register and post a resume in CalJOBS within 21 days of that notice or payments can stop. If yours is lapsed you might need to update it. Worth logging into caljobs.ca.gov to check your profile.

And even if the account is old, an outdated resume can apparently be an issue. Fresh resume posted is safer than leaving whatever's up there from years ago.

Good point. If the benefit year on a previous claim is still open, you'd reopen it rather than start a new one. If that year has ended, it's a new application. UI Online is usually the fastest way to do either. The DE 429Z from the original claim would show when that benefit year started if you kept it.

Yeah I didn't even know benefit years had specific end dates until all this. Mine had already expired so I did have to file from scratch. It matters for which wages they use to calculate your new weekly amount too.

Mine definitely expired - the original claim was from two years ago. So I'm filing a whole new one. Good to have that confirmed though.

Worth clarifying that the waiting week doesn't reduce the total your claim can pay overall. It's just unpaid at the start. The claim still pays up to 26 weeks of actual benefits on top of it.

Right, I didn't mean to imply it eats into your total. Just that there's a cash flow gap at the very start that people don't always plan for, especially when they're also going to have overpayment deductions coming out of payments afterward.

Okay so realistically I'm looking at maybe 4-5 weeks before I see any significant money. Waiting week, then processing time, then reduced first few payments because of the overpayment. I need to figure out what else I can tap into in the meantime.

I hadn't thought about that. I've always assumed CalFresh was just for people with zero income. Good to know it's based on income level not just employed vs not.

A lot of people assume that. The county decides the actual amounts and what qualifies, so your best move is just to apply and let them figure out if you're eligible rather than trying to guess.

211 is also worth calling or texting if you need to find local resources fast - utilities, food, rent help. That number works in most California counties and can point you to things you wouldn't find on your own.

Accurate - a late appeal goes to the same process, appeal goes in writing with the DE 1000M or a letter to the address on the notice, and you'd need to explain why it's late. Getting it past the threshold for consideration isn't guaranteed but it's a path that exists, especially if you have a real reason like not understanding the system.

And at the hearing, anyone can represent the claimant - themselves, a union rep, an attorney. The judge takes testimony under oath. It's more formal than people expect but it's not like court-court.

I honestly didn't realize I could still try to appeal. I kind of just accepted the debt because I thought the window had closed for good. I'm going to look into this.

The 1099G is in UI Online by January 31st each year too, under Payments and then Form 1099G, in case people need it faster than waiting for the mail version.

Right. And it covers only what was actually paid to you. If EDD offset some of your benefits toward the overpayment balance, only the net you received counts on the 1099G - the offset amount isn't income you got.

That's actually really useful clarification. I always wondered how the tax form handled it when deductions were taken out for a debt.

Correct. EDD mails the last employer a notice about the claim and gives them 10 days to respond. If they respond, EDD considers both sides. But the decision is EDD's entirely.

And the overpayment from an old claim is a separate matter from whether a new claim is eligible. Those two things don't get mixed together. The new claim stands or falls on its own facts.

A lot of people call it the approval letter and it really isn't. Good to have that explained clearly. If anything on the DE 429Z looks wrong in terms of wages, you have 30 days from the mailing date to appeal it.

Exactly. And with an overpayment involved, definitely read the DE 429Z carefully when it arrives because you want to know your full weekly benefit amount before deductions start. That's your baseline.

I'll watch for it. I had no idea there were this many forms involved in what I assumed would just be a straightforward refile. Really glad I asked before just assuming the worst.

The ID.me thing is something I haven't dealt with before. Is that something you have to do upfront when you file or does EDD send you a notice about it?

EDD sends a Request for Identity Verification - the DE 1326C - if they can't verify you automatically. You then do it through ID.me, create an account there and submit a photo. The agent told me my verification had come through which is why the pending cleared.

I had to do the ID.me thing too on my last claim. It held everything up for about two weeks because I didn't realize I needed to do it. Check your mail and UI Online inbox right after filing so you don't miss that notice.

Does EDD give any indication of what counts as extraordinary hardship, or is it pretty much up to their judgment?

EDD weighs it case by case - there's no published threshold I've found. What they're looking at is whether repayment would leave you unable to meet reasonable living expenses. Having your financial situation laid out clearly helps them make the call.

And submitting the waiver doesn't stop the new claim or slow it down. It's a separate process running alongside. So file for unemployment, certify properly, and work on the waiver at the same time.