First of all, update you on our hiring effort. You know, we were at record low unemployment in february, so we had low staff and low federal funding. Fast forward now, this historic demand for benefits and we are getting more increased federal funding, so we are now in the process of hiring 4,800 new staff to come help us with the unemployment and insurance demand that we are dealing with. Were doing that in an expedited fashion. Theres a great web page to give you the information about those positions that were filling, all aimed at trying to help us increase capacity as much as possible to deal with this historic load. Are you seeing any differences in the past week in terms of the claiming coming in as california starts to reopen and peopl are startg to go ckwo . Are you impact on your end yet . Well, we continue to see hundreds of thousands of new claims each week and well have some new numbers out again tomorrow as we do every thursday. And we have paid, the last week, more than 22 billion in benefits. And that pretty much equals what we paid in the absolute worst year of the recession and we paid that money in just a matter of three months, so it truly is a very historic demand. It continues at this point, but we are finding a lot of Different Things that do tend to hold people up. This is an eligibilitybased program. Its an insurance program. And it does require you to meet eligibility requirements, not only when you initiate your claim but also on a biweekl basis through what we call certifying. So i think some people think this is so new, so many new people that this is really kind of the thing that confuses folks and thats what we want to get more information about as we move forward. A question. If i go back to work on a parttime basis, do i keep benefits and covid19 . Thats going to be happening with a lot of different folks. You may not even go back to what you are normally at a fulltime basis. So what you do if youre on Unemployment Insurance program, you do need to report your income that you do earn on your biweekly certification form. For most peeople, especially ona regular program, report the earnings in the week in which you earned them. Not when you got paid but when you earned them and we have to deduct most of that from your Unemployment Benefits. As an example, if you earned 100 in one week, we will go ahead and say 25 of it doesnt count. The other 75 will be deducted from Unemployment Benefits. If jooyoure scheduled for a payment, you get 375 instead. Different for a selfemployed on a pandemic unemployment assistance claim, that is, they report to us how much they earn at the time they get that money, not necessarily when they earned it. So just a little difference there. You mentioned having a lot more people to help with claims. Linda rothfield wants to know where we can apply for a job in San Francisco with edd. I appreciate the interest. Edd careers page. Theres a great link on our front page of the web site. Youll find it and it lists all the different jobs we have. Everything from an analyst, helping us with processing claims to Office Technicians to help us on the phone lines. Even just accountants and so forth to help us with making a lot of analysis on the documents we receive for identity alert, for example. Sandy corbett has a question. What if it shows youre certified and never got paid, how do you getter is if ie er ii i appreciate this question. You have to be eligible, not only when you first apply for benefits but also on an ongoing every two week basis to get your next biweekly benefit payment. Thats called certifying and for most people online, youll get a notice in your inbox that says you have weeks to certify, and its a process of answering some basic questions about six of them telling us whether or not you remain unemployed or reduced hours and meeting all eligibility requirements. Its very important people understand the certification aspect and how you go about answering those questions. Renee wants to know, what about when you are getting money from ui but the Company Applies for shares work program. How does it work . Shares . I wonder if she might be talking about the Work Sharing Program. The Work Sharing Program does work differently. Great option for employers and their employees. What it means is an employer can apply and luckily, weve been able to enhance that application process, so its all online now which is a really good thing for employers. They propose a plan and they say all my employees, i dont want to let they will go, just reduce their hours by a small amount and then help replace some of those earnings they would have had with some Unemployment Benefits. And so all the employees ba basically fill out a certification form every two weeks to get the supplemental Unemployment Benefits to help out with their income. Thats like underemployed at the moment to prevent layoffs if you will. Great layoff prevention. Rosalina said if youre not working for over a year, can you file for unemployment . Unemployment all depends on, its a wage replacement program, so you had to have been working and impacted by this pandemic in order to be able to collect benefits. So what wages are you missing, its kind of what were being asked. Its an insurance program, so somebody has to have contributed on your behalf in order to be eligible for benefits. For most, thats employer and some others contribute pandemic unemployment assistance program, the federal government is helping us out with those benefits so we do look at your last 18 months of work history thats required on your application, and if youre not sure whether youre eligible, i would always encourage you to apply. People are worried about their benefits running out at this time, checks stopping, coming in. Heres a question coming in. Can you apply for a pua, pandemic unemployment assistance, after your pandemic emergency Unemployment Compensation or peuc runs out . Basically in regular Unemployment Insurance claim, 26 weeks of benefits to use and a 12 month period of what we call a benefit year to use those benefits. And if you exhaust those benefits, then what we can do right now is offer you a 13 week federal extension. So weve just started filing those in the last couple of weeks. We automatically do those for somebody within their current benefit year and have exhausted benefits. You should get something from us, not only in the mail but also your ui online account, look for that and then weeks to certify for it. I dont think at this point, anybody has run through that 13 week extension and again, well continue to keep people updated as we move along on if anything else comes out from the federal government. I have a question here about text messaging. To what extent are you using the Texting Program to let people know about their claims . And im so glad you asked that because thats a new feature weve been putting in place. We have been strategizing on a number of Different Things to keep people informed on the status of the claim and get rid of the uncertainty so many people feel and doing things all at a time. Text message is one of the new things were doing and what were doing is telling people through the phone number that you gave us when you applied, will text you on a couple of things when we went ahead and processed your claim, when your first benefit payment was made, when we filed that pandemic emergency Unemployment Compensation, that federal extension claim for you, as well as if indeed, were going to have to get you a notice asking for some documents to help us verify your identity, and a text message when we are able to verify your identity. Those have been some of the touch points where people are really wondering whats happening and hoping these new Text Messages help. We already sent out more than two million of the Text Messages in the last week or two alone. All right. Lori, well take a short break on the air but well continue our conversation over on our facebook platforms all right, welcome back. We are back with edd spokesperson lori levy today. Thank you for joining us, lori, over commercial break, we were on facebook answering more questions and heres another one that just came in. Marie wynn wants to know, edd pending since april. Been recertifying as usual but every single week, still pending and i feel like thats a sense of perpetual pending. Theyre in limbo and is that reducing . Is that problem, as you see, being mitigated every week or is that kind of the situation unchanged from a few weeks ago when we last talked . We keep clawing away at that through a number of Different Things. What were doing in automation and trying to add to our systems as well as adding staff. So yes, we are making progress, but i think whats happened is that weve seen a lot of people make some, because this is so new to so many people, weve seen a lot of common mistakes that unfortunately means we cant automatically process their claim. For example, pending could mean a number of Different Things. Could be on your initial claim. Most often, we find a lot of people are doing transposing their Social Security number and that creates a lot of back end work. We have to clear all that up, find out who that Social Security number truly belongs to. Thats going to take a lot of effort. I would highly suggest people please make sure you look over all your information before you submit it, make sure its true and accurate before you hit that Submit Button. That will help avoid a lot of that. Proofread, right . Thats what i tell my kiddo when they write an essay. Dont want that little mistake that holds you up. Ive been waiting to speak to somebody about my claim to get a call back, so far, nothing. Her problem is, i messed up on the date, and got an award notice and then deny notice just because i put in the wrong date. What do you do if you put the wrong date . We have a process for that. Theres so difficult to get on the phone line. We cant seem to staff fast enough to get everybody on the phone but everybodys patience in terms of finding other ways and other means for gainin information you need first. We want you to avoid that frustration wherever possible. So what you can do is take your award notice, write the correct date on that award notice and send it back to edd at the address listed on that award notice or you can go in and theres a new feature on our ask edd, if you go to the contact us feature on our web site. And then questions, sub category. An option for back dating your claim. You can fill it out and submit it to the edd. Theres other options rather than waiting object wait. How do you wait the penalty . They cant be weighed unless you appeal them and a judge overturns them. So what we can do instead and this is confusing, so hang in there with me. What we can do if you serve penalty, those come from making a false statement on the claim. Most commonly, back to work and failed to report it to edd and now collecting wages as well as Unemployment Insurance that creates overpayment and false penalty statement. What we do in this case is put you on a pua claim to help you get some benefits there to help provide some money on that gap until those penalties can be taken care or and so forth. There are some options and then we can move you back on a regular claim. Youll see a lot of action sometimes moving between programs, even a pua and then the extension claim and minimize peoples access to benefits. If the edd keeps me pending, will i still have the ability to get access to the 600 every benefit payment. Basically, all about the weeks right now. The current time. If we eventually find you eligible, youll be entitled no matter when thats paid. Even if you go back to work now, we havent been able to get you caught up on prior weeks and eligible for that, youll get paid for those weeks. Okay. Natalie wants to know, my doctor took me off work. Can i get unemployment or is that disability or Something Else . Well, it all kind of depends. If youve got a doctors note, sometimes thats going to be more of a disability claim and so we would encourage you to check out information about disability and i would also say that a Disability Insurance claim if youre too ill or sick to work, sometimes thats a higher amount of benefit. What do i do with the e e e e money e drkdd sent me if i star working already . There was a short period of time we were kind of doing some certifications for people to alleviate mode on our subpoenys. We wanted to err on the side of payments rather than not getting people paid. If they were overpaid, we set up a whole process by which they can report that to us. They wont get penalized and give information on that shortly. Heres a question about the debit card. Ann ramirez wants to know. My brother unemployed since march. Hes a barber and just applied a week ago. Said its been approved and paid but has not received his edd debit card yet. How long will it take for the card to arrive for him . So a couple of things, im glad you raised that because this is something a lot of people get confused about. If youve had a claim, any kind of edd claim, Disability Insurance or paid penalty leave, the payment bank of america makes is to that card because its good for three years, so oftentimes, people may not remember that they have a card and theyve been lost, so dont waste any time. Get the car replaced by going to the bank of americas web site and we have a link to it on our web site. Theres a replace my car tab. You can get that replaced and the benefit can get to you. Otherwise, after you are first found in the claim, card arrives in seven to ten days. Were going to well many people have such a misunderstanding as to how a reverse mortgage works. People think that the bank takes your home, but that is not true. Thats absolutely 100 wrong. The home is ours. We can sell it if we want to at any time. I like the flexibility of not having a payment, but i can make the payment if i want to. Youre responsible for keeping up your property taxes and youre responsible for paying your insurance on the property. For us, it was a security blanket. The value of our house, was to fund our longterm health care. These are just a few uses of reverse mortgages. Or go online to request your free information kit. Without a doubt, one of the best financial tools ive learned about. Everybody should be taking a look at it. If theyre over 62, they should at least investigate it. For years, reverse Mortgage Funding has been helping customers like these use the equity from their homes to finance their lives. They know the importance of having financial security. Weve got great peace of mind. Whatever comes up. Were ready. I advise you to call them. Make an appointment so they can tell you how it works. Its a good thing. Reverse Mortgage Funding. Access your equity. Stay in your home. Have peace of mind. We are back with edd spokesperson lori levy. Continue to answer your questions during break on our live stream plat forms. Heres another question from renee. Can we set up a telephone conference with an edd rep with our company and how to set it up or who to call . You know, i think thats a good resource for you on a localized level through the americas jobs center of california offices and you can find the one nearest you on our edd web site. Theyre doing a lot of appointments, a lot of Rapid Response activity with employers in the local area, so i highly recommend an individual to contact the local office near them and inquire what services are available as an employer. Jonathan has a question. Really, its more of a statement. Stop extending benefits and help the people who dont have any benefits. Thats not something you have any control over, lori. Unfortunately, you have to meet eligibility rules. Its a wage replacement program. Were tied to the laws that govern that, so if someone meets those eligibility requirements, we are doing everything we can to process the claims quickly as possible and issue that benefit but if youre not eligible, unfortunately, nothing we can do. Gri seselda has a question. Can we check the account Number Online . If we can automatically process your claim through the system, we can automatically register you to complete that ui online functionality. Youll get an email that says new online account created. And that means weve automatically registered you. You dont have to wait to get your Customer Account number in the mail. You can go right on to ui online and get your benefits. Coco wants to know, if i choose not to go back to can i still collect unemployment . There are some good cause provisions, like somebodys health in a critical category or something along those lines. Its a touchy thing. You have to be able and available to work and youre asked every two weeks if youve refused any work and if you do refuse work and we have to go ahead and check with that employer who offered you the job and so forth to see if its suitable work, you could be denied benefits but depends whether theres good cause provisions that have been met. Check to check out the worker resources on the web site. Good information for you. Heres an id verification question from sherry. My daughter received papers saying she needed to verify. Sent back six weeks ago, still nothing. Shes been emailing several times a week and no one responding to the emails. Advice . It breaks our heart when we cant get to people any more quickly and i do apologize. We have so many people calling and emailing, we just cant literally get to them all. But just know that we are redirecting and training hundreds, we are building our capacity on a daily basis over the memorial day, we had 700 people volunteering to work specifically on the identity alert topic. Good news weve got this id Social Security number validation in the system, which hopefully will say, hey, you have not entered your Social Security number correctly when we check with the Social Security administration. Go back and check it. Getting people another option to make sure its correct before they hit the Submit Button and we hope that helps people avoid a lot of these delays. Yeah, all right. Heather wants to know, why must i reopen the claim i just filed . Will i need to do this each time after i certify . Its hard for me to know the specifics on what she may be speaking to. However, i will say that some people may not certify. You have to certify every two weeks in order to get your next benefit payment. For whatever reason, many people may not ever certify, and if they dont, their claim goes into an inactive status. So that just means it will stay there and if you ever do find yourself unemployed within your benefit year again, you can reopen that claim and start certifying again. But if you dont certify within a certain amount of time, usually a week or two, it does go into the inactive status requiring you to reopen it. Im still working 40 hours but had to take a pay cut for six months. Ive applied for ui benefits and complete the certificates but constantly told i dont qualify for any benefits. Still working fulltime in terms of hours. Qualify or no . Unfortunately, the the Unemployment InsuranceProgram Works if you are still working fulltime even if its at a pay cut, we cannot qualify you for unemployment. Its really an unemployed type of situation which is, i know, not in the case of this individual, unfortunately, thats the way the program is. Okay. Not sure this is for you. But megan said i was denied for my benefits because of the extra 600 added to my edd benefits. Did they have the right to do that . Will i be denied from medical too . Unfortunately, i do not know since those arent our programs and apologize but hopefully you can find good information on their web site to lend a hand. Heres someone from l. A. Saying, how do i get a job with you guys . They hear youre hiring. I think thats worth wrapping you are conversation up on. Great, no, thank you very much from the interest. Go to our edd web site and our edd careers page and youll see a link to each of the positions that were filling and exactly where they are located and all the other essentials about the jobs. Thank you. Lori leavy, thank you as well. Enjoy talking t back here on air. Thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show, getting answers. Toay we were getting answers from the edd on your Unemployment Benefits. Well be here every day at 3 00 tu liveand on live stream tonight, new reporting on the former police officer, derek chauvin, charged in the murder of george floyd in minneapolis. What we did not know about a plea deal that fell apart. Prosecutors confirming chow vin was negotiating a guilty plea to local and federal charges, so, what changed . As George Floyds brother appears before congress today, saying his brother did not deserve to die over 20. And what he said when asked if he believed his brothers killing was premeditated. Also tonight, as we come on the air, the urgent hunt for a gunman who opened fire on a police station. Investigators do believe the shootings are connected. Residents ordered to shelter in place. And what authorities have