Will I get unemployment if I was fired from my job in California?

First thing you need to understand - getting fired does NOT automatically mean you'll be denied unemployment in California. California EDD looks at the specific reason why you were fired, not just the fact that you were fired. The key legal distinction is whether your termination involved what's called 'misconduct' under California unemployment law. Misconduct in the legal sense means you deliberately violated a material duty of your employment - things like intentional rule-breaking, theft, harassment, showing up intoxicated, stuff like that. Poor performance by itself, especially if you weren't given clear standards or warnings, generally does NOT qualify as misconduct. So based on what you're describing - not meeting production targets you weren't clearly informed about - you actually have a decent shot at being approved. When California EDD investigates your claim, they'll contact your former employer and ask them to explain why you were let go. Your employer will need to demonstrate misconduct occurred. If they can't prove that, EDD typically sides with the claimant. Make sure you're completely honest in your responses and document everything you remember about how the termination went down.

ok so the other person is right but i wanna add - document EVERYTHING right now while its fresh. like write down: - exactly what your supervisor said when they fired you - whether you ever got any written warnings - whether they ever showed you the production targets in writing - any witnesses who saw your work environment EDD is gonna send you and your employer a questionnaire called a DE 4800 asking for your side of the story. you need to be super specific and factual in that. dont be emotional or defensive, just state the facts of what happened and what you did or didnt know about the standards

Going through something really similar right now and I've been trying to get through to an actual EDD agent to ask about my claim status after submitting everything. The phone lines are absolutely brutal - been trying for two weeks straight and keep getting that 'call volume too high' message and getting disconnected. Someone in another thread mentioned a service called Claimyr that helps you actually get through to a live EDD agent without sitting on hold for hours. I was skeptical at first but I checked out their site at claimyr.com and watched their demo video at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10 and it actually made sense. Used it yesterday and got connected to an EDD rep within like 40 minutes. The agent was able to confirm my claim was in adjudication and tell me roughly what to expect next. Honestly wish I'd found it two weeks ago.

I work in HR (not for your company obviously lol) and can give you some perspective from the employer side. When EDD contacts a former employer about a fired employee's claim, a lot of companies honestly don't even bother responding in detail or just submit generic paperwork. If your employer doesn't clearly establish misconduct with documentation, EDD defaults toward approving the claim. The fact that you say there was no formal PIP or written warnings actually works in your favor. Companies that have a proper paper trail of disciplinary actions and clear performance standards communicated in writing are much more likely to successfully contest a claim. If your employer was sloppy about documentation, that's their problem not yours.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW LONG THIS ALL TAKES THOUGH. even if you get approved eventually you're still looking at weeks with zero income while they figure it out. i was fired in a somewhat similar situation - 'performance' they said - and it took california EDD over 6 weeks to process everything and send me my first payment. SIX WEEKS. meanwhile I'm bleeding through my savings and maxing credit cards just to survive. the adjudication process when theres any kind of employer dispute is just brutal. they say 3-5 weeks but in my experience that's a best case scenario

so wait i'm confused about something - if EDD decides it WAS misconduct do you just automatically get nothing?? or is there like an in between

just wanted to share my experience because it sounds similar - I was fired for 'not meeting expectations' from a retail job last year. Got a questionnaire from EDD, filled it out explaining I never received proper training or clear goals, employer apparently just submitted a one-sentence response. Got approved for UI benefits about 4 weeks later. The weekly benefit amount ended up being $387 based on my wages. Just keep your head up and be thorough when you respond to EDD.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet - you need to register with CalJOBS (California's job search portal) AND you need to be actively looking for work starting from week one. California EDD requires you to document job search activities - typically 3 employer contacts per week. Keep a log of every job you apply to with dates, company names, position titles, and how you applied. This is separate from whether you'll be approved. Even if they approve your claim for the fired situation, you can lose benefits going forward if you're not meeting the ongoing job search requirements.

i'm gonna be the honest voice here - it really depends on your specific employer and what they tell EDD. I was fired for 'attitude problems' which sounds vague like your situation and I got denied first round. My employer apparently submitted emails where I had argued back with a manager. EDD decided that counted as misconduct. I'm currently in appeals. I'm not trying to scare you I just don't want you to assume you'll definitely get approved because that's not guaranteed. Prepare for both outcomes.

while this thread is going - does anyone know if theres a difference in how EDD treats being fired from a full time job vs part time? I was let go from a part time gig i'd had for 8 months and i'm not sure if i even qualify

Something that really helped me when I was dealing with EDD after a termination dispute was actually getting a live agent on the phone to explain my specific situation before the adjudication was finalized. I found out about Claimyr through a coworker - you can check it out at claimyr.com - and it got me connected to an EDD agent without the endless hold music nightmare. The agent I spoke with actually walked me through what information would be most helpful to include in my response to the questionnaire. That kind of personalized guidance from an actual EDD employee was way more useful than just guessing based on online forums.

ok real talk - the performance vs misconduct distinction matters SO MUCH and i feel like EDD's own website doesn't explain it well at all. I went through this exact scenario and the key thing my appeal judge told me was: did you KNOW what was expected and CHOOSE not to do it? or did you try your best and fall short? the first one can be misconduct. the second one is not. the fact that you didn't know about the production targets until after the fact is really important - write that down in your questionnaire response in plain clear language

my sister just went through this whole thing. she was fired from a restaurant for 'not being a good fit for the team' which is basically nothing as a reason. EDD approved her. she said the hardest part was just the waiting and not knowing. she also said calling EDD was completely impossible, kept getting hung up on, and someone suggested she try Claimyr at claimyr.com to actually get through. she got through and they told her her claim was just pending standard processing and she wasn't flagged for anything, which massively reduced her anxiety even though nothing had actually changed lol

i've been reading this whole thread because im in a very similar boat (fired last week, 'performance') and just want to say this has been more helpful than two hours of googling. the specific advice about keeping everything factual, documenting that you didn't know about specific targets, and filing weekly certifications even during adjudication - all things i didn't know. thank you everyone

one more thing - check your myEDD account religiously. like every single day. EDD sometimes sends notices with very short response windows and if you miss them your claim gets automatically denied or delayed. I missed a notice once because it went to spam in my email AND I wasn't checking my myEDD portal. cost me like 2 extra weeks of processing time.

UPDATE: for anyone who finds this thread later - I'm the original poster. It's been about 5 weeks since I posted this. I got a notice from California EDD last week saying my claim was APPROVED. They determined my termination did not constitute misconduct under California UI code 1256. My employer apparently just submitted a brief statement that didn't really establish any intentional wrongdoing on my part. Things that I think helped: responding to the DE 4800 questionnaire thoroughly and factually within a few days of receiving it, completing the ID.me verification quickly, and filing my weekly certifications every single week even when I didn't know if I'd be approved. Got my first payment yesterday which included all the back weeks. Still not fully caught up financially but getting there. Thank you to everyone in this thread.