Legacy of the California EDD: Quick to Deny, Slow to Appeal

San Bernardino, CAIt’s little wonder that Californians turn to the legal system and a California Unemployment Insurance Denial lawsuit to appeal denied benefits, given the apparent track record of the state Employment Development Department (EDD) as outlined in a damning series of articles two years ago in the Los Angeles Times.

It’s also little wonder that the message from attorneys is, in a nutshell, that if you lose your job through no fault of your own and require unemployment benefits, it may be in your best interest to have a legal expert leading the charge on your behalf, given the tendency of the EDD as being quick to deny benefits, yet slow to respond to an appeal.

Much has been made about a statistic that emerged in 2014, when it was revealed that more than half of denials originally made by the EDD are reversed by appellate judges. According to the LA Times (2/26/14), no fewer than 163,375 claims that had been initially denied by the EDD between July 1, 2012 and October 2013 were reversed on appeal, at a rate of 55 percent.

That rate reflects justified claims in which claimants properly met all the criteria and regulations mandated by the EDD. When factoring in justified claims that missed various aspects of compliance with EDD regulations and protocols for whatever reason, that rate goes even higher - with reversals in favor of the claimant in 70 percent of the cases.

The high number of reversed appeals “is an indication of how badly the system is being run,” said Cynthia Rice, director of litigation for California Rural Legal Assistance, in comments published by the LA Times.

Job loss translates to loss of wage for Californians, many of whom may be single-income earners. It is such a circumstance that the California unemployment insurance system was designed to ward against, as a means to keep Californians going - supporting their families, undertaking their financial liabilities and continuing to help drive the state economy - between jobs.

However, as has been the case for countless Californians, a quick denial followed by lengthy delays to file and undertake an appeal serves to undermine that mandate.

The LA Times personified the hassles seen in the California Unemployment Insurance system by telling the story of Bob Rendon of Los Angeles, who went seven months between jobs and spent the lion’s share of that time allegedly fighting with the EDD over missed unemployment insurance payments, together with a $50 penalty assessed by the EDD in response to an alleged failure on Rendon’s part to report a single day of work income.

An appellate judge eventually reversed the penalty.

At the time this report was released, the EDD was promising to do better.

In the meantime, it appears that many legitimate claimants have little choice but to file a California Unemployment Insurance Denial lawsuit in order to achieve some kind of justice, together with needed benefits.

To that end, any claimant steeling his or herself against the possibility of a CA Unemployment Insurance lawsuit may be well advised to involve a qualified attorney from the very beginning. A legal professional is well versed on not only California employment law, but also on the inner workings of the EDD and the many delays that may ensue.

Given the possibility of inching close to bankruptcy or foreclosure during a potentially prolonged period of unemployment, having one’s ducks in a row with a qualified attorney at the ready may well be wise strategy…