SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday appointed Rita L. Saenz to oversee the state's unemployment benefits department, which has been overwhelmed by claims during the coronavirus pandemic and also has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in phony claims, including to prison inmates. Saenz, 71, will be director of the Employment Development Department if she receives state Senate confirmation. “With more than 40 years of.
Newsom appoints new director to Employment Development Department
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday appointed Rita L. Saenz to oversee the state’s unemployment benefits department, which has been overwhelmed by claims during the coronavirus pandemic and also has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in phony claims, including to prison inmates.
Saenz, 71, will be director of the Employment Development Department if she receives state Senate confirmation. The post pays $204,000. With more than 40 years of experience in state government and the private sector, Rita Saenz is well-prepared to lead EDD at what is sure to be one of the most difficult moments in the department’s history, Newsom said in a statement.
Kathleen Pender: Newsom appoints Rita Saenz to lead troubled Employment Development Department [San Francisco Chronicle]
Dec. 31 Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday appointed Rita Saenz as the director of the California Employment Development Department, replacing Sharon Hilliard, who will retire Thursday after nearly 40 years with the agency.
Saenz, 71, has more than 40 years of experience in state government and the private sector. Since 2016, she has been a consultant at Saenz and Associates in Sacramento. Before that she had several positions at Xerox, including director of communications and California government affairs. She also served in state government, including director of the California Department of Social Services from 1998 to 2004 and held several positions under Gov. Jerry Brown from 1981 to 1983.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, Pool/Getty Images
Californian allegedly obtained UI benefits using Feinstein s identity
OAKLAND, Calif. A former California unemployment agency employee allegedly used Sen. Dianne Feinstein s identity to fraudulently claim $21,000 in unemployment insurance benefits this year, according to a newly unsealed federal criminal complaint.
The allegation is another black eye for California s unemployment insurance system, which has been beset by a drumbeat of fraud complaints including a crime ring that allegedly obtained payments for inmates even as out-of-work Californians complain they cannot access needed benefits.
Federal prosecutors believe that a former employee of the state s Employment Development Department, Andrea Gervais, used Feinstein s name as part of a ploy to wring unemployment money from the agency where she formerly worked. The complaint said a U.S. senator s name was used; a source with direct knowledge of the
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When Bank of America reported a few days ago that unemployment benefits fraud in California could total $2 billion, a number of questions came to mind.
Is this the biggest heist in history, at least in California? Well, that’s what the Sacramento County district attorney said, and I can’t think of anything that tops it.
Has the California Employment Development Department now surpassed the Department of Motor Vehicles in the ranks of scandalous state government incompetence? It certainly appears that way.
And if California prison inmates were smart enough to swindle an estimated $400 million in state benefits, even as thousands who were thrown out of work by the pandemic still can’t get their money, shouldn’t we hire the inmates to run the agency and lock up the officials who allowed it to become a national laughingstock?