Will EDD UI continue after high-paying contract work or do I need to reapply?

Take the contract!! EDD doesn't cancel your claim when you report income - they just won't pay you benefits for weeks where you earn more than your weekly benefit amount. Your claim stays open for a year (your benefit year), and you can keep certifying every two weeks. After your contract ends, just report $0 income and you'll start getting payments again automatically. I did several short contracts last year and had no problems. You just need to keep certifying and accurately report your income.

u should DEF take the job but make sure u report EXACTLY what u earn!! my friend got in huge trouble for misreporting her contract income. they check with the employer. also dont forget to do ur work search for any weeks u are collecting benefits!

The previous responses are correct - your claim remains open for the entire benefit year. When you certify for the weeks you worked, you'll need to answer "Yes" to the question about whether you worked, and report your gross earnings before taxes. For weeks where you earn more than your weekly benefit amount ($575), you'll receive $0 in benefits, but your claim stays active and your remaining balance isn't affected for those weeks. After the contract ends, you'll simply report that you didn't work and had no earnings, and your regular UI payments will resume automatically. No need to reapply or do anything special. Important: You still need to certify for ALL weeks, even those where you know you'll earn too much to receive benefits. If you skip certifying, EDD might think you've stopped looking for work altogether.

TAKE THE JOB!!! The EDD system is DESIGNED to let people take temporary work. It's actually what they WANT you to do! When I was on unemployment last year I took a 3-week contract job that paid really well. My benefits just paused during that time and then started right back up when I reported no more income. The EDD computer system handles this automatically. Just make sure you KEEP CERTIFYING every two weeks no matter what! That's the #1 mistake people make. They stop certifying during their contract work and then have problems getting benefits restarted. P.S. I'm surprised you're able to get through on the phones... when I had a question about this last year I had to call EDD like 50 times before getting through!!

theres actually a service called Claimyr that can get you through to EDD if you're still worried and want to confirm anything. I used it when I had a similar situation with contract work and needed to speak to a rep. they get you in the call queue at claimyr.com - theres a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km worth it for peace of mind especially since your contract pays well. the rep I spoke with confirmed exactly what others here are saying - claim stays open, just report income, then resume after. but I get wanting to hear it directly from EDD!

Let me clarify a few technical details: 1. Your claim remains open for the full benefit year (52 weeks from when you applied) 2. For the weeks you work, you must report ALL earnings when certifying 3. When gross earnings exceed your weekly benefit amount, you'll receive $0 for that week 4. BUT you must still complete work search requirements for ANY week you want to receive benefits 5. For weeks you earn over your WBA, you don't need to complete work search activities 6. Your claim balance is only reduced when you receive payment So in your case, take the contract, report the $5,200/week when certifying, receive $0 those weeks, then resume normal benefits after the contract ends by reporting $0 income. You won't need to reapply unless your entire benefit year ends.

@confused_user That's a common misunderstanding. You only need to complete work search activities for weeks where you're claiming benefits. If you're reporting earnings that exceed your weekly benefit amount (meaning you'll receive $0 benefit), you don't need to do work search for those specific weeks. However, you DO still need to certify for those weeks and report your earnings accurately. This maintains your claim as active in the system. When you return to claiming benefits (reporting $0 income), you'll need to resume your work search activities.

I had this EXACT situation last year when I took a 3-week contract during my unemployment. Everything worked fine EXCEPT I made one mistake - I didn't realize I had to report the income when I was PAID not when I WORKED. My contract work was in April but I got paid first week of May, and I reported it wrong. Caused a whole mess with EDD sending me confusing letters. Just make sure you report income in the week you RECEIVE it, not when you do the work!

@OP, the previous comment is incorrect. For UI benefits, you report earnings for the week you PERFORMED the work, not when you received payment. This is clearly stated in the EDD certification instructions. From the EDD website: "Report work and earnings for the week you performed the work, not when you were paid." This is different from some other benefits programs, which might be why there's confusion.

Just an additional tip: keep VERY careful records of exactly which days you work and how much you earn each day. If your contract spans across different certification weeks, you'll need to calculate exactly how much to report for each week. EDD goes by Sunday-Saturday weeks. For example, if you work Thursday, Friday, Saturday of one week ($2,600) and then Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of the next week ($2,600), you need to split up the $5,200 accordingly when you certify. I learned this the hard way and had to deal with an overpayment notice because I didn't calculate it correctly!