California EDD can't freeze unemployment checks, must 'pay now' during eligibility investigations By Lisa Fernandez and Emma Goss Published And so what has been called "conditional pay" will now be switched to a "pay now" policy. In other words, as a result of a class action lawsuit, the EDD must now stop its policy of freezing benefits for people whose existing claims have eligibility questions and instead continue sending checks while they investigate the problem. Claimants whose payments are currently frozen will get paid for all the weeks they have missed. "I was really happy because I've been waiting for so long," Katrina Aulaumea-Bullis, 32 said. A payment of $5,600 was deposited on her EDD debit card Friday morning. She'd been waiting for that money since February.