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"title": "Why Is California’s Unemployment Rate the Highest in the Nation? | KQED",
"description": "New unemployment numbers show that California is tied with Nevada for the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Experts point to uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy, immigration raids and the rise of Artificial Intelligence as some of the main contributors. So what does a high unemployment rate mean for one of the world’s largest economies? Scott talks with economist Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, an independent research and consulting firm. Check out Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.",
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"slug": "californias-employment-safety-net-is-still-broken-will-anyone-fix-it",
"title": "Despite Overhaul, California's Unemployment System Still Plagued With Fraud, Debt",
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"headTitle": "Despite Overhaul, California’s Unemployment System Still Plagued With Fraud, Debt | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Kim Tanner didn’t expect to become a fraud detective when she filed for disability with the California Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in mid-July, $3,161 vanished from her online account with the state’s new debit card contractor, Money Network, according to Tanner’s complaints to government regulators. Someone had gotten access to her online debit card account, added a new bank account and transferred out her money, all without any notifications, she wrote in the complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tanner said Money Network told her it could take 90 days to investigate and that she may or may not get a full refund, leaving her short on rent money. She turned to social media and saw similar horror stories on Reddit and Facebook. “My head exploded,” Tanner said. “This was happening to tons of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, she started filing complaints. First, with Money Network, its parent company Fiserv, and the EDD. Then, with a state senator and a half-dozen financial regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just went on and on and on,” said Tanner, who got her money back via paper check about a month and a half later after a federal agency intervened. “This needs to be investigated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='unemployment-fraud']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation a year ago exposed how the EDD’s unemployment system crashed during the pandemic, the result of historic job losses, years of missed warning signs and poor contractor performance. As a result, the system at first failed to stop widespread fraud, then cut off access to millions of real people who used it as a crucial lifeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, even with a new payment contractor in place, concerns about fraud linger for people who rely on unemployment and disability programs run by the EDD. Multiple lawsuits and 74 federal consumer complaints about government debit cards have been filed by Californians against Money Network this year alone. The EDD and the company say the debit card fraud is smaller scale than the varied forms of fraud during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of the fraud complaints, a report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that lawmakers are failing to address a bigger unemployment problem: a “broken” financial model, one that threatens the whole system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s unemployment fund is still $20 billion in debt to the federal government after the state took out loans to cover pandemic benefits, costing taxpayers $1 billion in annual interest — more than the state spends on child welfare. Now, after years of ignoring calls to modernize the state’s 1980s-era unemployment tax code, the system is on track to lose $2 billion a year as it fails to bring in enough revenue to cover unemployment expenses, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to state lawmakers, says the state needs to bring unemployment taxes in line with other states to cover the deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is entirely avoidable,” said LAO policy analyst Chas Alamo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016645 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kim Tanner at her home in Carlsbad. \u003ccite>( Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The recommendations could force a reckoning for lawmakers caught between business and labor advocates. Business groups have fought tax increases, favoring California’s current lowest-in-the-nation unemployment tax base. Labor groups argue that taxes must go up to stabilize the system. Then, they say, lawmakers should evaluate measures to expand which workers are eligible for unemployment or raise California’s $450-a-week maximum payment, which is also lower than many other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happens next will be one test of how legislative leaders respond to voters’ rebuke of Democratic leadership nationwide, with the Legislature’s Democratic leadership pledging to do more to make California a less expensive place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the EDD has already secured funding for an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion effort called EDDNext to finally modernize the call centers, software and websites that power the state’s job safety net — a more ambitious version of past modernization efforts that crumbled during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether or not history will repeat itself is complicated by unanswered questions about what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic and how the state scrambled to recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former California labor chief Julie Su went on to become acting U.S. labor secretary and one of the longest-unconfirmed presidential nominees in history, thanks in part to criticism over unemployment fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has denied CalMatters’ repeated requests for internal records from this period, citing an exemption that allows the governor to keep his communications secret if he chooses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The fraud factor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, a wide range of fraud schemes hit the unemployment system at once. Global hackers used large-scale identity theft. Low-level social media scammers and prison inmates adopted fake names to file for benefits under emergency federal programs that waived normal identity checks. Debit card scammers cloned insecure EDD cards then run by Bank of America and drained the accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of real California workers got caught up in the mess, state audits found. Some saw their EDD accounts flagged as suspicious due to clerical errors, communication failures or faulty fraud software. Laid-off workers saw EDD debit cards overdrawn by thousands of dollars or cut off as the bank and the state scrambled to rein in fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California and other states were partially let off the hook when the federal government agreed to absorb the bulk of the billions lost to fraud in emergency programs. After Bank of America pulled out of the unemployment business last year, the EDD tried to turn the page on debit card fraud by hiring Georgia finance tech company Money Network to take over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scope and details of the current fraud that workers allege isn’t clear. State auditors and financial regulators haven’t analyzed it; lawsuits and regulatory complaints only show that money disappeared from workers’ accounts, not how it was taken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which previously fined Bank of America $100 million over what it called “botched” pandemic unemployment payments, declined to answer questions about new complaints. The bureau’s public records show that Californians have filed 149 complaints against Money Network since 2022, when the company first started running a different state debit card program, with 101 complaints mentioning government cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Money Network said in a statement that “only a small percentage of EDD recipients have reported suspected fraud” and that anyone concerned should “call the number listed on the back of their card.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD and Money Network also now allow direct deposit, giving people the option of skipping debit cards altogether. Since direct deposit launched in June, about 15% of new applicants have opted for debit cards, the EDD said in a statement. The agency could not immediately say how many of its hundreds of thousands of existing customers still use debit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone who suspects they are a victim of fraud should take steps to protect themselves and file a fraud report,” the EDD said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016647 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flyer for identity theft resources and information sits on top of other documentation related to Kim Tanner’s financial fraud case on her desk at her home in Carlsbad on Oct. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>( Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lea Bitton was still reeling from a high-risk pregnancy when it happened to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One evening in June, the Orange County resident logged into her Money Network disability account and realized that $4,000 was missing. She relied on the EDD money to cover her family’s costs during parental leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Someone Bitton didn’t know had hacked into her account, according to a lawsuit she filed against Money Network. Similar to Tanner’s case in Carlsbad, a new electronic transfer was set up for someone with a different name and bank account, and Bitton was never asked to authorize the change before the money disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Loker, Bitton’s attorney, said the fraud appears similar to some EDD debit card fraud cases that he handled during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s deja vu a little bit,” Loker said. “It’s a difficult problem, but it shouldn’t be the consumers who are left holding the bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If fraud occurs once unemployment or disability money has already been transferred from the EDD to Money Network, the state’s contract says that Money Network is responsible for investigating and reimbursing clients if necessary. However, some people with EDD Money Network debit cards say that it isn’t always easy to figure out how to start that process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Los Angeles, Greg Zekowski filed for unemployment while in between film projects. He hadn’t even used his EDD Money Network debit card yet, he said, when he logged into the online account and saw several unfamiliar charges to Uber and other retailers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called Money Network. “Their response was, ‘The problem is EDD,’” Zekowski said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he called the EDD: “Their response was, ‘It’s all them.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD and its contractors aren’t alone. The state’s food assistance and college financial aid programs are also among the many financial systems facing mounting fraud risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One broader challenge is how few financial institutions bid on government benefit projects. The lack of options puts more pressure on agencies working to secure debit cards and other payments, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Providers may face minimal competitive pressure from program innovation, new entrants, or customer choice,” the report authors wrote, “which may exacerbate or cause the issues with fees and customer service that benefits recipients face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A financial cliff\u003cbr>\nWhile the EDD and the people who rely on it play whack-a-mole with fraud, California has big decisions to make about the future of the state’s job safety net.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the state continues to do nothing, the LAO projected this week, it will have no unemployment reserves and become even more reliant on loans from the federal government to weather future recessions, likely costing taxpayers billions more in interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or the state can bite the bullet, as many others have, and change the way it pays for unemployment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016648\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016648 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The offices of the Employment Development Department in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>First, the LAO recommends that businesses pay a flat 1.9% unemployment tax while digging out of debt. California companies also currently only pay unemployment taxes on the first $7,000 a worker earns each year. Instead, the LAO recommends taxing employers on workers’ first $46,800 in earnings — higher than some neighbors like Nevada but lower than Washington, Idaho and Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that the scope of the recommendations that we’re putting forward in this report are significant,” said LAO analyst Ann Hollingshead. “This is just an honest reflection of the severity of the underlying problems in the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers last revamped unemployment taxes in 1984. And businesses are already voicing opposition to temporary tax hikes to pay down California’s deep federal debt. One bill to recalibrate how the system is paid for — raising unemployment taxes to eventually increase weekly benefits — died in committee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said that the business group is still reviewing the details of the LAO proposal. In the past, the Chamber has favored tightening unemployment eligibility to reduce benefit payments, labeling any form of tax increases and proposals to expand the unemployment system “job killers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniela Urban, executive director of the Sacramento Center for Workers’ Rights, said there is broad agreement on how unstable the current situation is but discord on where to go from here. She and other labor advocates say that unemployment is one area where California businesses have long underpaid compared to other states and that the system has not kept up with non-traditional jobs and increasing costs of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a huge hole, and that’s not financially acceptable,” Urban said. “But how and when to make those changes, I think, is what the contention is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the funding hole, the pandemic revealed other problems at EDD. Tech systems buckled: jammed call centers, spotty online accounts and a patchwork behind-the-scenes process for tracking unemployment claims. The agency is currently overhauling these systems with EDDNext.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the agency hired Salesforce to remake the MyEDD online system that workers use to manage their accounts. It brought in Amazon Web Services to update and integrate EDD phone systems that left as many as 40 million calls a month unanswered during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early next year, the state will award a contract for the biggest chunk of the project — a new central system for EDD personnel to manage claims, which comes with more than 600 pages of specifications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are making tremendous investments in modernizing EDD, and the work is going well,” the agency said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Kim Tanner didn’t expect to become a fraud detective when she filed for disability with the California Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in mid-July, $3,161 vanished from her online account with the state’s new debit card contractor, Money Network, according to Tanner’s complaints to government regulators. Someone had gotten access to her online debit card account, added a new bank account and transferred out her money, all without any notifications, she wrote in the complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tanner said Money Network told her it could take 90 days to investigate and that she may or may not get a full refund, leaving her short on rent money. She turned to social media and saw similar horror stories on Reddit and Facebook. “My head exploded,” Tanner said. “This was happening to tons of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, she started filing complaints. First, with Money Network, its parent company Fiserv, and the EDD. Then, with a state senator and a half-dozen financial regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just went on and on and on,” said Tanner, who got her money back via paper check about a month and a half later after a federal agency intervened. “This needs to be investigated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation a year ago exposed how the EDD’s unemployment system crashed during the pandemic, the result of historic job losses, years of missed warning signs and poor contractor performance. As a result, the system at first failed to stop widespread fraud, then cut off access to millions of real people who used it as a crucial lifeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, even with a new payment contractor in place, concerns about fraud linger for people who rely on unemployment and disability programs run by the EDD. Multiple lawsuits and 74 federal consumer complaints about government debit cards have been filed by Californians against Money Network this year alone. The EDD and the company say the debit card fraud is smaller scale than the varied forms of fraud during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of the fraud complaints, a report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns that lawmakers are failing to address a bigger unemployment problem: a “broken” financial model, one that threatens the whole system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s unemployment fund is still $20 billion in debt to the federal government after the state took out loans to cover pandemic benefits, costing taxpayers $1 billion in annual interest — more than the state spends on child welfare. Now, after years of ignoring calls to modernize the state’s 1980s-era unemployment tax code, the system is on track to lose $2 billion a year as it fails to bring in enough revenue to cover unemployment expenses, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to state lawmakers, says the state needs to bring unemployment taxes in line with other states to cover the deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is entirely avoidable,” said LAO policy analyst Chas Alamo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016645 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_04-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kim Tanner at her home in Carlsbad. \u003ccite>( Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The recommendations could force a reckoning for lawmakers caught between business and labor advocates. Business groups have fought tax increases, favoring California’s current lowest-in-the-nation unemployment tax base. Labor groups argue that taxes must go up to stabilize the system. Then, they say, lawmakers should evaluate measures to expand which workers are eligible for unemployment or raise California’s $450-a-week maximum payment, which is also lower than many other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happens next will be one test of how legislative leaders respond to voters’ rebuke of Democratic leadership nationwide, with the Legislature’s Democratic leadership pledging to do more to make California a less expensive place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the EDD has already secured funding for an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion effort called EDDNext to finally modernize the call centers, software and websites that power the state’s job safety net — a more ambitious version of past modernization efforts that crumbled during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether or not history will repeat itself is complicated by unanswered questions about what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic and how the state scrambled to recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former California labor chief Julie Su went on to become acting U.S. labor secretary and one of the longest-unconfirmed presidential nominees in history, thanks in part to criticism over unemployment fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has denied CalMatters’ repeated requests for internal records from this period, citing an exemption that allows the governor to keep his communications secret if he chooses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The fraud factor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, a wide range of fraud schemes hit the unemployment system at once. Global hackers used large-scale identity theft. Low-level social media scammers and prison inmates adopted fake names to file for benefits under emergency federal programs that waived normal identity checks. Debit card scammers cloned insecure EDD cards then run by Bank of America and drained the accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of real California workers got caught up in the mess, state audits found. Some saw their EDD accounts flagged as suspicious due to clerical errors, communication failures or faulty fraud software. Laid-off workers saw EDD debit cards overdrawn by thousands of dollars or cut off as the bank and the state scrambled to rein in fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California and other states were partially let off the hook when the federal government agreed to absorb the bulk of the billions lost to fraud in emergency programs. After Bank of America pulled out of the unemployment business last year, the EDD tried to turn the page on debit card fraud by hiring Georgia finance tech company Money Network to take over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scope and details of the current fraud that workers allege isn’t clear. State auditors and financial regulators haven’t analyzed it; lawsuits and regulatory complaints only show that money disappeared from workers’ accounts, not how it was taken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which previously fined Bank of America $100 million over what it called “botched” pandemic unemployment payments, declined to answer questions about new complaints. The bureau’s public records show that Californians have filed 149 complaints against Money Network since 2022, when the company first started running a different state debit card program, with 101 complaints mentioning government cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Money Network said in a statement that “only a small percentage of EDD recipients have reported suspected fraud” and that anyone concerned should “call the number listed on the back of their card.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD and Money Network also now allow direct deposit, giving people the option of skipping debit cards altogether. Since direct deposit launched in June, about 15% of new applicants have opted for debit cards, the EDD said in a statement. The agency could not immediately say how many of its hundreds of thousands of existing customers still use debit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone who suspects they are a victim of fraud should take steps to protect themselves and file a fraud report,” the EDD said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016647 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/101124_Kim-Tanner-EDD_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flyer for identity theft resources and information sits on top of other documentation related to Kim Tanner’s financial fraud case on her desk at her home in Carlsbad on Oct. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>( Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lea Bitton was still reeling from a high-risk pregnancy when it happened to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One evening in June, the Orange County resident logged into her Money Network disability account and realized that $4,000 was missing. She relied on the EDD money to cover her family’s costs during parental leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Someone Bitton didn’t know had hacked into her account, according to a lawsuit she filed against Money Network. Similar to Tanner’s case in Carlsbad, a new electronic transfer was set up for someone with a different name and bank account, and Bitton was never asked to authorize the change before the money disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Loker, Bitton’s attorney, said the fraud appears similar to some EDD debit card fraud cases that he handled during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s deja vu a little bit,” Loker said. “It’s a difficult problem, but it shouldn’t be the consumers who are left holding the bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If fraud occurs once unemployment or disability money has already been transferred from the EDD to Money Network, the state’s contract says that Money Network is responsible for investigating and reimbursing clients if necessary. However, some people with EDD Money Network debit cards say that it isn’t always easy to figure out how to start that process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Los Angeles, Greg Zekowski filed for unemployment while in between film projects. He hadn’t even used his EDD Money Network debit card yet, he said, when he logged into the online account and saw several unfamiliar charges to Uber and other retailers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called Money Network. “Their response was, ‘The problem is EDD,’” Zekowski said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he called the EDD: “Their response was, ‘It’s all them.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD and its contractors aren’t alone. The state’s food assistance and college financial aid programs are also among the many financial systems facing mounting fraud risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One broader challenge is how few financial institutions bid on government benefit projects. The lack of options puts more pressure on agencies working to secure debit cards and other payments, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Providers may face minimal competitive pressure from program innovation, new entrants, or customer choice,” the report authors wrote, “which may exacerbate or cause the issues with fees and customer service that benefits recipients face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A financial cliff\u003cbr>\nWhile the EDD and the people who rely on it play whack-a-mole with fraud, California has big decisions to make about the future of the state’s job safety net.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the state continues to do nothing, the LAO projected this week, it will have no unemployment reserves and become even more reliant on loans from the federal government to weather future recessions, likely costing taxpayers billions more in interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or the state can bite the bullet, as many others have, and change the way it pays for unemployment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016648\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016648 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The offices of the Employment Development Department in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>First, the LAO recommends that businesses pay a flat 1.9% unemployment tax while digging out of debt. California companies also currently only pay unemployment taxes on the first $7,000 a worker earns each year. Instead, the LAO recommends taxing employers on workers’ first $46,800 in earnings — higher than some neighbors like Nevada but lower than Washington, Idaho and Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that the scope of the recommendations that we’re putting forward in this report are significant,” said LAO analyst Ann Hollingshead. “This is just an honest reflection of the severity of the underlying problems in the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers last revamped unemployment taxes in 1984. And businesses are already voicing opposition to temporary tax hikes to pay down California’s deep federal debt. One bill to recalibrate how the system is paid for — raising unemployment taxes to eventually increase weekly benefits — died in committee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said that the business group is still reviewing the details of the LAO proposal. In the past, the Chamber has favored tightening unemployment eligibility to reduce benefit payments, labeling any form of tax increases and proposals to expand the unemployment system “job killers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniela Urban, executive director of the Sacramento Center for Workers’ Rights, said there is broad agreement on how unstable the current situation is but discord on where to go from here. She and other labor advocates say that unemployment is one area where California businesses have long underpaid compared to other states and that the system has not kept up with non-traditional jobs and increasing costs of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a huge hole, and that’s not financially acceptable,” Urban said. “But how and when to make those changes, I think, is what the contention is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the funding hole, the pandemic revealed other problems at EDD. Tech systems buckled: jammed call centers, spotty online accounts and a patchwork behind-the-scenes process for tracking unemployment claims. The agency is currently overhauling these systems with EDDNext.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the agency hired Salesforce to remake the MyEDD online system that workers use to manage their accounts. It brought in Amazon Web Services to update and integrate EDD phone systems that left as many as 40 million calls a month unanswered during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early next year, the state will award a contract for the biggest chunk of the project — a new central system for EDD personnel to manage claims, which comes with more than 600 pages of specifications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Unemployment Rate Is Nation's Highest",
"headTitle": "California Unemployment Rate Is Nation’s Highest | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California’s unemployment rate is now the highest in the country, reaching 5.3% in February, following new data that revealed job growth in the nation’s most populous state was much lower last year than previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lost a staggering 2.7 million jobs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, losses brought on by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-us-news-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-gavin-newsom-9ca4a191790dd6f80bd5acec569ec423\">stay-at-home order\u003c/a>, which forced many businesses to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has added more than 3 million jobs since then, a remarkable streak that averaged just over 66,000 new jobs per month, according to the state Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a recent analysis of unemployment data by the federal government revealed that job growth slowed significantly last year. The federal government releases job numbers each month that state officials use to measure the health of the economy. Each year, the federal government analyzes these numbers to see if they match payroll records. Normally, the revisions are small and don’t impact the overall view of the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, while the data initially showed California added 300,000 jobs between September 2022 and September 2023, the corrected numbers released earlier this month show the state added just 50,000 jobs during that period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics, Loyola Marymount University\"]‘I think California’s economy is the leading edge of the national economic slowdown.’[/pullquote]“I think California’s economy is the leading edge of the national economic slowdown,” said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estimating the number of jobs is tricky. The number is based on monthly surveys of workers. The recently corrected numbers show that the survey overestimated job growth in some sectors — with the biggest difference coming in the professional services category, which includes the often high-paying professions of lawyers, accountants and engineers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the preliminary numbers showed California added 9,900 jobs in July. But the corrected numbers show the state actually lost about 41,400 jobs that month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11949192,news_11966111,news_11967122\"]Seven of California’s 11 job sectors lost jobs in February. The largest decrease was in construction, with 9,600 jobs lost — a reflection of disruptions from a series of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-storm-atmospheric-river-pineapple-express-708cf05046e6de696484ab16fa8ea5f0\">strong storms\u003c/a> that hit the state in February. The job losses would have been much worse had it not been for a strong showing in the health care sector, led mostly by increased jobs such as acupuncturists and dieticians, according to the state Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s economy soared during the pandemic, propped up by billions of dollars in federal aid and a runaway stock market that fueled rapid growth within the technology industry. Now, it appears the tech companies may have hired too many, too quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tech sector, especially major firms, over-hired in the first post-pandemic year and has been shedding jobs since,” said Michael Bernick, a former director of the California Employment Development Department who is now an attorney with the Duane Morris law firm. “The (San Francisco) Bay Area is the new epicenter of Artificial Intelligence start-ups. But these start-ups so far are creating a small number of jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"State Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire\"]‘The quicker we move, the better it is for California. We are going to have to make sacrifices. But early action means that we can bring this deficit to a more manageable level.’[/pullquote]The economic slowdown has made its way to the state’s budget, which, for the second year in a row, is facing a multibillion-dollar deficit. The Newsom administration and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office disagree about the size of the deficit. The Newsom administration reported the deficit was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-budget-gavin-newsom-public-schools-deficit-f98ad09c8bdf6df07f1998cd057e77c8\">$37.9 billion in January\u003c/a>. But the LAO said it could be as \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4850\">high as $73 billion.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor and state Legislature usually finish the first version of the state’s spending plan in June. But this year, with the deficit so large, Newsom has been negotiating with legislative leaders on some early actions they could take next month to reduce the deficit ahead of the April tax filing deadline, which is when state officials get a better idea of how much money will be available to spend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Senate leader Mike McGuire, a Democrat, said he believes lawmakers need to reduce the deficit by at least $17 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quicker we move, the better it is for California,” McGuire said. “We are going to have to make sacrifices. But early action means that we can bring this deficit to a more manageable level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s unemployment rate is now the highest in the country, reaching 5.3% in February, following new data that revealed job growth in the nation’s most populous state was much lower last year than previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lost a staggering 2.7 million jobs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, losses brought on by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-us-news-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-gavin-newsom-9ca4a191790dd6f80bd5acec569ec423\">stay-at-home order\u003c/a>, which forced many businesses to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has added more than 3 million jobs since then, a remarkable streak that averaged just over 66,000 new jobs per month, according to the state Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a recent analysis of unemployment data by the federal government revealed that job growth slowed significantly last year. The federal government releases job numbers each month that state officials use to measure the health of the economy. Each year, the federal government analyzes these numbers to see if they match payroll records. Normally, the revisions are small and don’t impact the overall view of the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, while the data initially showed California added 300,000 jobs between September 2022 and September 2023, the corrected numbers released earlier this month show the state added just 50,000 jobs during that period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think California’s economy is the leading edge of the national economic slowdown.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I think California’s economy is the leading edge of the national economic slowdown,” said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estimating the number of jobs is tricky. The number is based on monthly surveys of workers. The recently corrected numbers show that the survey overestimated job growth in some sectors — with the biggest difference coming in the professional services category, which includes the often high-paying professions of lawyers, accountants and engineers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the preliminary numbers showed California added 9,900 jobs in July. But the corrected numbers show the state actually lost about 41,400 jobs that month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Seven of California’s 11 job sectors lost jobs in February. The largest decrease was in construction, with 9,600 jobs lost — a reflection of disruptions from a series of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-storm-atmospheric-river-pineapple-express-708cf05046e6de696484ab16fa8ea5f0\">strong storms\u003c/a> that hit the state in February. The job losses would have been much worse had it not been for a strong showing in the health care sector, led mostly by increased jobs such as acupuncturists and dieticians, according to the state Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s economy soared during the pandemic, propped up by billions of dollars in federal aid and a runaway stock market that fueled rapid growth within the technology industry. Now, it appears the tech companies may have hired too many, too quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tech sector, especially major firms, over-hired in the first post-pandemic year and has been shedding jobs since,” said Michael Bernick, a former director of the California Employment Development Department who is now an attorney with the Duane Morris law firm. “The (San Francisco) Bay Area is the new epicenter of Artificial Intelligence start-ups. But these start-ups so far are creating a small number of jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The economic slowdown has made its way to the state’s budget, which, for the second year in a row, is facing a multibillion-dollar deficit. The Newsom administration and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office disagree about the size of the deficit. The Newsom administration reported the deficit was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-budget-gavin-newsom-public-schools-deficit-f98ad09c8bdf6df07f1998cd057e77c8\">$37.9 billion in January\u003c/a>. But the LAO said it could be as \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4850\">high as $73 billion.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor and state Legislature usually finish the first version of the state’s spending plan in June. But this year, with the deficit so large, Newsom has been negotiating with legislative leaders on some early actions they could take next month to reduce the deficit ahead of the April tax filing deadline, which is when state officials get a better idea of how much money will be available to spend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Senate leader Mike McGuire, a Democrat, said he believes lawmakers need to reduce the deficit by at least $17 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quicker we move, the better it is for California,” McGuire said. “We are going to have to make sacrifices. But early action means that we can bring this deficit to a more manageable level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Layoffs and Mental Health: How to Take Care of Yourself After Job Loss",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting laid off can have many immediate consequences — losing your source of income, having to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">cut back on spending and dipping into your savings\u003c/a> — but it can also have emotional repercussions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A job can represent security and stability, and when that is taken away, our mental health also takes a hit. So, looking after our mental health is equally critical as figuring out how to keep paying the bills. If we don’t respond to our mental health needs after losing a job, that can hamper our ability to problem-solve, says Redondo Beach-based Kelli McLean, a marriage and family therapist who works on issues relating to trauma, anxiety and depression with her clients all over California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once one crisis happens, it’s more likely for additional crises to happen,” she said. “Mental health is like a snowball.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the start of the pandemic, researchers have been learning more about the relationship between layoffs and mental health. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7904880/\">2021 study by Irish and American researchers\u003c/a> sampled 2,301 adults in the United States who had a job before the start of COVID-19. Those who were laid off reported higher symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress than those who kept their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellpeopleafterlayoff\">How can I tell my family I’ve been laid off?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#selfcarelayoff\">How can I truly make time for self-care after a job loss?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#mentalhealthinsurance\">How can I access mental health care after losing my employer-based health insurance?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“You lose your job, and then what happens is stress,” said McClean, who noted that once stressors increase, that “snowball” effect can lead to possible outcomes like tension with a partner, a breakup or overreliance on substances like alcohol. Because “these things tend to happen, one after another,” McLean said, “it’s really important for us to be proactive when we’re in a crisis, as opposed to pulling the covers over our head.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to several mental health professionals across California, including McLean, to hear their thoughts on how you can deal with the emotional fallout of losing a job, the best ways to reassure and support those who depend on you and how to protect your mental health as you prepare for your next move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every situation is different, but here are some bigger insights that could be of use during difficult times.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When you first get the bad news\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Why do many of us feel so \u003cem>bad\u003c/em> when we lose our jobs? Of course, part of it comes from the very real challenge of losing our source of income and not knowing how we will pay our bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over time, our jobs can become part of our identity. When we lose our jobs, that part of who we are is taken away. “Your work persona, your work identity — it comes to you over time, but it doesn’t define you,” said Ioanna Angelakis, a marriage and family therapist based in San Francisco. She helps patients navigate career decisions and the anxieties that may be tied to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come from a perspective that we all have infinite capacities and we have so many strengths that are left untapped,” Angelakis said. “Look at your dreams and define who you want to become, and who you always dreamed you would become.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Then, Angelakis recommends, “take the time to contrast that with your recent role. See if there is a mismatch — and whether you can pick up where you left off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also important to remember that you are not alone in this experience, adds McLean. “This happens to most people at some point in their career. Most of the time it’s not your fault.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s simply random,” she went on. “It’s simply because of budget cuts or because the company is downsizing.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">Read more about how to make a layoff feel less personal.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both McLean and Angelakis stress to be kind to yourself after you get the bad news. This is just the first step in a longer journey, and granting yourself patience will help you face the coming challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11835622\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11835622 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety.png\" alt=\"An Asian woman with long dark hair and medium toned skin wearing a black tee shirt looks to the side, as if worried.\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-800x539.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-1020x687.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-1536x1035.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therapists stress that it’s important to treat yourself with kindness after a layoff. \u003ccite>(Loannes Marc/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellpeopleafterlayoff\">\u003c/a>How do you tell loved ones you’ve been laid off?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Figuring out how we want to share the bad news with those we care about can be another source of anxiety. These people can include our friends, partners or spouses, children and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We begin to feel like we failed — that we failed \u003cem>them,\u003c/em> or that we were not able to fulfill our goals,” said Angelakis. But you should let yourself release those thoughts, she advises, and remind yourself that a layoff does not define your potential — as a professional, or as a person overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you raise the news with your spouse or partner, share what you’re feeling and be clear about what type of help you need from them, Angelakis said: “You can remind them … to be your ally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>And if you have both a partner and children, make a plan with your partner first on how you want to tell your kids — depending on how old they are and what you know of their emotional capacity for topics like this. But most importantly, she stressed, “Be age-appropriate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re talking to your 6-year-old child, you don’t want to say, ‘Mom got fired,’ or ‘Mom got canned.’ You might want to say something like, ‘Mom’s not going to the office for a little while,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think a lot of people go into this talking to their kids like they’re little adults,” McLean said. Although that might be your impulse, it “can be really scary for a child if they’re being talked to like they’re a little adult,” she said. “Kids tend to worry about this kind of thing if it’s not handled age-appropriately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For younger kids more capable of handling upsetting news, as a parent or caregiver you might consider keeping it simple — that you don’t have that job anymore and are looking for an even better one, perhaps — and assure them there’s nothing to worry about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also be honest with kids about how \u003cem>you\u003c/em> feel, McLean says — but make sure to be clear about whether some things at home will change moving forward, even temporarily. “If you’re cutting down on some extracurricular activities, make sure that you’re still doing things with the kids where they’re getting quality time with you, maybe if it’s just going to the library, or going to the park,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And make sure to keep checking in with your kids consistently while you’re looking for your next job. Children “tend to have tummy aches, or they tend to say, ‘I’m not feeling good’” when they’re worried about something, McLean said. “If you’re comfortable with their teachers, maybe let their teachers know, and keep to your family structure as much as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"selfcarelayoff\">\u003c/a>Making time for self-care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If your former employer did not provide you with a severance package and you are under financial pressure, self-care may not immediately strike you as ranking high on your list of priorities. But setting aside time to catch your breath and do something that benefits you is actually critical to making sure you can be at your best when looking for a job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José-based marriage and family therapist Mariya Katrina Punay points out that a layoff is a type of separation, like a breakup or divorce. In some cases, workers have spent years working alongside people who may have become like family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we don’t take care of ourselves through this experience, like you would during another kind of separation, Punay says, it could put you at risk of longer-term consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the reality of the situation is “not addressed in a healthy way during the separation process,” she said, “it can be very stressful. And in the very rare case, it could be retraumatizing for those people that have not healed their job or workplace separation trauma from a previous employer … [who] jumped from one job to another without having to take time to look at how that kind of interaction has affected them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what \u003cem>does\u003c/em> self-care look like after a job loss? If you have the option to take some time off before looking for a new role, Angelakis encourages you to fill up this time with things you always wanted to do but were prevented from doing by work. “Think about all the things that have been put on hold that are fun, inventive and creative,” she said — and seek them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelakis also stresses the importance of having a “gratitude practice.” This, she says, “is the time when you can fill up your time helping others,” but also an opportunity for you to make “a ritual out of being grateful for all of the things you have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Focus on the things that you \u003cem>do\u003c/em> have in place,” Angelakis says. “The less we have, sometimes, the more grateful we become.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if you have to go straight into the job search or you already have another job, Angelakis recommends setting aside some time each day, even for a few minutes, for your gratitude practice. “Brief with peers who also were laid off, go outside, maybe treat yourself and get your feelings out and to process what’s going on there,” she said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">Read more about finding community among other folks who’ve been laid off.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeping a day-to-day structure is also part of self-care, says McLean, especially during a job search.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not hearing back after multiple job applications can start to make some folks feel “depressed and hopeless,” said McLean. To combat this while you’re not working, she recommends having “some kind of structure to your day. You’ll get up at the same time. And do your résumé for two, three hours,” and then exercise.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\"> Read more about how to balance job applications with healthy activities.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11867225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11867225 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/pexels-cottonbro-5054213-scaled-e1617913983516.jpg\" alt=\"Two hands type on a laptop in front of a window.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">How can you balance actively searching for work with taking care of your emotional needs? \u003ccite>(Cottonbro/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>When should you seek additional mental health support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McLean emphasizes just how vulnerable we are when we lose our jobs unexpectedly. “One of the biggest stressors is being let go of a job,” she said. “It’s going to make it more likely for people to start engaging in their substance use. It’s going to put you at higher risk for depression, anxiety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McLean notes that people who have “a predisposition towards depression, anxiety, any type of mental health issue or substance use issue” should be especially aware that they might need additional support after a layoff through mental health counseling — “because they’re at higher risk for a relapse in either a mental health issue or a substance use issue, because it’s such a big stressor to lose a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even if this is not your personal situation, talking to a mental health professional about everything that is on your plate can go a long way if you’re also juggling family responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When times are tough, many parents and caregivers tend to prioritize the needs of their children and other family members, and can sometimes overlook their own emotional and physical needs, says Angelakis. “As a mother, I know how hard it is to put yourself first,” she explained. “But if you don’t put yourself first … you’re going to start to burn out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges that for some parents, it doesn’t come easy to set time aside to talk about their feelings. But, she says, it’s in those difficult moments that you need to take care of yourself, so you can take care of those who depend on you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Angelakis herself lost her job at a children’s mental health nonprofit, around the same time her son was in a serious accident. From personal experience, she says, she knows “it is so challenging to step away and take care of myself first, because my child is my first priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In these circumstances, you feel like you just have to be these robotic individuals who just keep going, like the Energizer Bunny. And we’re not built that way,” said Angelakis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re human. We have feelings. We have needs. And those basic needs left unmet are going to manifest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"mentalhealthinsurance\">\u003c/a>How can I access mental health care if I no longer have insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you received health care insurance through your employer, that coverage will stop soon after the layoff. This can make it harder to find mental health support and can potentially create a difficult situation if you are already seeing a therapist or have a prescription for a mental health issue your insurance helps cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are several things you can do, says Punay from San José. After you’re told about the layoff, your employer will contact you to go over some paperwork that finalizes your employment. That’s when you want to ask how long your insurance benefits will last after your last day at work and about \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/healthcareincalifornia/typesofplans/keepyourhealthcoverage(cobra).aspx\">COBRA, a federal and state law that allows workers to continue receiving their health coverage\u003c/a> for a certain period after losing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, if your employer offers you a severance agreement, this can be the time to negotiate better terms for you and your family before agreeing to sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While going through insurance paperwork may not feel like the most exciting or engaging thing to do after losing your job, Punay acknowledges, it is still important because it can help you get the tools you need to look after yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For some people, it’s so easy to not bother with this stuff because they’re busy looking for work,” she said. “However, it’s also important that you advocate for yourself — because advocating for yourself, especially after a job loss, can be looking at the paperwork that you don’t want to look at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s important to remember that COBRA coverage is not free and premiums can in fact be quite high. Individuals may be charged hundreds of dollars, and family plans can go for thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While someone’s employed, their employer typically pays part of the premium. So that means it’s low cost,” said Tyler Sadwith, deputy director for behavioral health at the state Department for Health Care Services. “But after someone loses their job, while they have the ability to stay enrolled with that same health plan, they actually then become typically responsible for the full premium.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, they could see what other options might be available,” he explained. “If they’re married, that could include enrolling in the health plan of their spouse or their partner. And that could also mean applying for Medi-Cal or other options under Covered California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can review discounted health care plans — and see whether you qualify for Medi-Cal — by visiting \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/\">Covered California’s website\u003c/a>. Once you’re covered, you’ll have access to services including mental health evaluations, individual and family therapy, and support for prescriptions as well. And remember: Medi-Cal covers all children in California, regardless of immigration status, whose families meet certain income requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">\u003cstrong>Read more about your health insurance options after a layoff\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Another option California offers, Sadwith says, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhope.org/\">CalHOPE, a peer-based, free, counseling service\u003c/a> available through text, phone and video chat, available 24/7. When you call (833) 318-HOPE or (833) 318-4673, you’ll be connected to a member of the CalHOPE network — someone you can talk to about what you’re going through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CalHOPE is really designed to provide support … have someone share the burden that [you’re] feeling that day and get some light-touch support,” Sadwith said, clarifying that “CalHOPE is really not intended to be professionally delivered clinical mental health care, and it’s not extensive treatment or ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you’re already seeing a therapist when you get laid off? Make sure to quickly let them know your situation, says McLean. “Some health care professionals will see clients pro bono or will see them on a sliding scale,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are several nonprofit organizations that work to provide low-cost and sliding scale counseling and therapy services. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881725/where-to-find-affordable-culturally-competent-therapy-in-bay-area-and-beyond\">See more resources on how to find affordable therapy in the Bay Area here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on May 19, 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2024. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Experts weigh in on how you can deal with the emotional fallout of losing a job, the best ways to reassure and support those who depend on you and how to protect your mental health as you prepare for your next move.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting laid off can have many immediate consequences — losing your source of income, having to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">cut back on spending and dipping into your savings\u003c/a> — but it can also have emotional repercussions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A job can represent security and stability, and when that is taken away, our mental health also takes a hit. So, looking after our mental health is equally critical as figuring out how to keep paying the bills. If we don’t respond to our mental health needs after losing a job, that can hamper our ability to problem-solve, says Redondo Beach-based Kelli McLean, a marriage and family therapist who works on issues relating to trauma, anxiety and depression with her clients all over California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once one crisis happens, it’s more likely for additional crises to happen,” she said. “Mental health is like a snowball.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the start of the pandemic, researchers have been learning more about the relationship between layoffs and mental health. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7904880/\">2021 study by Irish and American researchers\u003c/a> sampled 2,301 adults in the United States who had a job before the start of COVID-19. Those who were laid off reported higher symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress than those who kept their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellpeopleafterlayoff\">How can I tell my family I’ve been laid off?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#selfcarelayoff\">How can I truly make time for self-care after a job loss?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#mentalhealthinsurance\">How can I access mental health care after losing my employer-based health insurance?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“You lose your job, and then what happens is stress,” said McClean, who noted that once stressors increase, that “snowball” effect can lead to possible outcomes like tension with a partner, a breakup or overreliance on substances like alcohol. Because “these things tend to happen, one after another,” McLean said, “it’s really important for us to be proactive when we’re in a crisis, as opposed to pulling the covers over our head.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to several mental health professionals across California, including McLean, to hear their thoughts on how you can deal with the emotional fallout of losing a job, the best ways to reassure and support those who depend on you and how to protect your mental health as you prepare for your next move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every situation is different, but here are some bigger insights that could be of use during difficult times.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When you first get the bad news\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Why do many of us feel so \u003cem>bad\u003c/em> when we lose our jobs? Of course, part of it comes from the very real challenge of losing our source of income and not knowing how we will pay our bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over time, our jobs can become part of our identity. When we lose our jobs, that part of who we are is taken away. “Your work persona, your work identity — it comes to you over time, but it doesn’t define you,” said Ioanna Angelakis, a marriage and family therapist based in San Francisco. She helps patients navigate career decisions and the anxieties that may be tied to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come from a perspective that we all have infinite capacities and we have so many strengths that are left untapped,” Angelakis said. “Look at your dreams and define who you want to become, and who you always dreamed you would become.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Then, Angelakis recommends, “take the time to contrast that with your recent role. See if there is a mismatch — and whether you can pick up where you left off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also important to remember that you are not alone in this experience, adds McLean. “This happens to most people at some point in their career. Most of the time it’s not your fault.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s simply random,” she went on. “It’s simply because of budget cuts or because the company is downsizing.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">Read more about how to make a layoff feel less personal.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both McLean and Angelakis stress to be kind to yourself after you get the bad news. This is just the first step in a longer journey, and granting yourself patience will help you face the coming challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11835622\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11835622 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety.png\" alt=\"An Asian woman with long dark hair and medium toned skin wearing a black tee shirt looks to the side, as if worried.\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety.png 1900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-800x539.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-1020x687.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Anxiety-1536x1035.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therapists stress that it’s important to treat yourself with kindness after a layoff. \u003ccite>(Loannes Marc/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellpeopleafterlayoff\">\u003c/a>How do you tell loved ones you’ve been laid off?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Figuring out how we want to share the bad news with those we care about can be another source of anxiety. These people can include our friends, partners or spouses, children and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We begin to feel like we failed — that we failed \u003cem>them,\u003c/em> or that we were not able to fulfill our goals,” said Angelakis. But you should let yourself release those thoughts, she advises, and remind yourself that a layoff does not define your potential — as a professional, or as a person overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you raise the news with your spouse or partner, share what you’re feeling and be clear about what type of help you need from them, Angelakis said: “You can remind them … to be your ally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>And if you have both a partner and children, make a plan with your partner first on how you want to tell your kids — depending on how old they are and what you know of their emotional capacity for topics like this. But most importantly, she stressed, “Be age-appropriate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re talking to your 6-year-old child, you don’t want to say, ‘Mom got fired,’ or ‘Mom got canned.’ You might want to say something like, ‘Mom’s not going to the office for a little while,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think a lot of people go into this talking to their kids like they’re little adults,” McLean said. Although that might be your impulse, it “can be really scary for a child if they’re being talked to like they’re a little adult,” she said. “Kids tend to worry about this kind of thing if it’s not handled age-appropriately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For younger kids more capable of handling upsetting news, as a parent or caregiver you might consider keeping it simple — that you don’t have that job anymore and are looking for an even better one, perhaps — and assure them there’s nothing to worry about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also be honest with kids about how \u003cem>you\u003c/em> feel, McLean says — but make sure to be clear about whether some things at home will change moving forward, even temporarily. “If you’re cutting down on some extracurricular activities, make sure that you’re still doing things with the kids where they’re getting quality time with you, maybe if it’s just going to the library, or going to the park,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And make sure to keep checking in with your kids consistently while you’re looking for your next job. Children “tend to have tummy aches, or they tend to say, ‘I’m not feeling good’” when they’re worried about something, McLean said. “If you’re comfortable with their teachers, maybe let their teachers know, and keep to your family structure as much as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"selfcarelayoff\">\u003c/a>Making time for self-care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If your former employer did not provide you with a severance package and you are under financial pressure, self-care may not immediately strike you as ranking high on your list of priorities. But setting aside time to catch your breath and do something that benefits you is actually critical to making sure you can be at your best when looking for a job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José-based marriage and family therapist Mariya Katrina Punay points out that a layoff is a type of separation, like a breakup or divorce. In some cases, workers have spent years working alongside people who may have become like family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we don’t take care of ourselves through this experience, like you would during another kind of separation, Punay says, it could put you at risk of longer-term consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the reality of the situation is “not addressed in a healthy way during the separation process,” she said, “it can be very stressful. And in the very rare case, it could be retraumatizing for those people that have not healed their job or workplace separation trauma from a previous employer … [who] jumped from one job to another without having to take time to look at how that kind of interaction has affected them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what \u003cem>does\u003c/em> self-care look like after a job loss? If you have the option to take some time off before looking for a new role, Angelakis encourages you to fill up this time with things you always wanted to do but were prevented from doing by work. “Think about all the things that have been put on hold that are fun, inventive and creative,” she said — and seek them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelakis also stresses the importance of having a “gratitude practice.” This, she says, “is the time when you can fill up your time helping others,” but also an opportunity for you to make “a ritual out of being grateful for all of the things you have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Focus on the things that you \u003cem>do\u003c/em> have in place,” Angelakis says. “The less we have, sometimes, the more grateful we become.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if you have to go straight into the job search or you already have another job, Angelakis recommends setting aside some time each day, even for a few minutes, for your gratitude practice. “Brief with peers who also were laid off, go outside, maybe treat yourself and get your feelings out and to process what’s going on there,” she said. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">Read more about finding community among other folks who’ve been laid off.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeping a day-to-day structure is also part of self-care, says McLean, especially during a job search.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not hearing back after multiple job applications can start to make some folks feel “depressed and hopeless,” said McLean. To combat this while you’re not working, she recommends having “some kind of structure to your day. You’ll get up at the same time. And do your résumé for two, three hours,” and then exercise.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\"> Read more about how to balance job applications with healthy activities.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11867225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11867225 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/pexels-cottonbro-5054213-scaled-e1617913983516.jpg\" alt=\"Two hands type on a laptop in front of a window.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">How can you balance actively searching for work with taking care of your emotional needs? \u003ccite>(Cottonbro/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>When should you seek additional mental health support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McLean emphasizes just how vulnerable we are when we lose our jobs unexpectedly. “One of the biggest stressors is being let go of a job,” she said. “It’s going to make it more likely for people to start engaging in their substance use. It’s going to put you at higher risk for depression, anxiety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McLean notes that people who have “a predisposition towards depression, anxiety, any type of mental health issue or substance use issue” should be especially aware that they might need additional support after a layoff through mental health counseling — “because they’re at higher risk for a relapse in either a mental health issue or a substance use issue, because it’s such a big stressor to lose a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even if this is not your personal situation, talking to a mental health professional about everything that is on your plate can go a long way if you’re also juggling family responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When times are tough, many parents and caregivers tend to prioritize the needs of their children and other family members, and can sometimes overlook their own emotional and physical needs, says Angelakis. “As a mother, I know how hard it is to put yourself first,” she explained. “But if you don’t put yourself first … you’re going to start to burn out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges that for some parents, it doesn’t come easy to set time aside to talk about their feelings. But, she says, it’s in those difficult moments that you need to take care of yourself, so you can take care of those who depend on you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Angelakis herself lost her job at a children’s mental health nonprofit, around the same time her son was in a serious accident. From personal experience, she says, she knows “it is so challenging to step away and take care of myself first, because my child is my first priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In these circumstances, you feel like you just have to be these robotic individuals who just keep going, like the Energizer Bunny. And we’re not built that way,” said Angelakis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re human. We have feelings. We have needs. And those basic needs left unmet are going to manifest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"mentalhealthinsurance\">\u003c/a>How can I access mental health care if I no longer have insurance?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you received health care insurance through your employer, that coverage will stop soon after the layoff. This can make it harder to find mental health support and can potentially create a difficult situation if you are already seeing a therapist or have a prescription for a mental health issue your insurance helps cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are several things you can do, says Punay from San José. After you’re told about the layoff, your employer will contact you to go over some paperwork that finalizes your employment. That’s when you want to ask how long your insurance benefits will last after your last day at work and about \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/healthcareincalifornia/typesofplans/keepyourhealthcoverage(cobra).aspx\">COBRA, a federal and state law that allows workers to continue receiving their health coverage\u003c/a> for a certain period after losing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, if your employer offers you a severance agreement, this can be the time to negotiate better terms for you and your family before agreeing to sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While going through insurance paperwork may not feel like the most exciting or engaging thing to do after losing your job, Punay acknowledges, it is still important because it can help you get the tools you need to look after yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For some people, it’s so easy to not bother with this stuff because they’re busy looking for work,” she said. “However, it’s also important that you advocate for yourself — because advocating for yourself, especially after a job loss, can be looking at the paperwork that you don’t want to look at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s important to remember that COBRA coverage is not free and premiums can in fact be quite high. Individuals may be charged hundreds of dollars, and family plans can go for thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While someone’s employed, their employer typically pays part of the premium. So that means it’s low cost,” said Tyler Sadwith, deputy director for behavioral health at the state Department for Health Care Services. “But after someone loses their job, while they have the ability to stay enrolled with that same health plan, they actually then become typically responsible for the full premium.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, they could see what other options might be available,” he explained. “If they’re married, that could include enrolling in the health plan of their spouse or their partner. And that could also mean applying for Medi-Cal or other options under Covered California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can review discounted health care plans — and see whether you qualify for Medi-Cal — by visiting \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/\">Covered California’s website\u003c/a>. Once you’re covered, you’ll have access to services including mental health evaluations, individual and family therapy, and support for prescriptions as well. And remember: Medi-Cal covers all children in California, regardless of immigration status, whose families meet certain income requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">\u003cstrong>Read more about your health insurance options after a layoff\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Another option California offers, Sadwith says, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhope.org/\">CalHOPE, a peer-based, free, counseling service\u003c/a> available through text, phone and video chat, available 24/7. When you call (833) 318-HOPE or (833) 318-4673, you’ll be connected to a member of the CalHOPE network — someone you can talk to about what you’re going through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CalHOPE is really designed to provide support … have someone share the burden that [you’re] feeling that day and get some light-touch support,” Sadwith said, clarifying that “CalHOPE is really not intended to be professionally delivered clinical mental health care, and it’s not extensive treatment or ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if you’re already seeing a therapist when you get laid off? Make sure to quickly let them know your situation, says McLean. “Some health care professionals will see clients pro bono or will see them on a sliding scale,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are several nonprofit organizations that work to provide low-cost and sliding scale counseling and therapy services. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881725/where-to-find-affordable-culturally-competent-therapy-in-bay-area-and-beyond\">See more resources on how to find affordable therapy in the Bay Area here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on May 19, 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2024. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "What to Do After a Layoff: Unemployment, Health Insurance, and Other Benefits",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing what to do when you get laid off can feel like a daunting prospect — especially if losing your job came as a total shock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve compiled a list of the initial steps to take after a layoff, to ensure you’re in as secure a place as possible. Jump straight to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#unemploymentbenefits\">Applying for unemployment benefits\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">Keeping your health insurance\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#otherbenefits\">Other benefits you might not know you’re eligible for\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>… Or keep reading. As with the instructions for assembling furniture, you might find it helpful to read all this advice start to finish before you embark on these applications — to be prepared for any bumps you might encounter.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Three tips to making applying for benefits after a layoff easier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your local government may have staff to help you do this\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many cities and counties have their own offices, staff or programs specifically designed for people in your situation right now — which often have physical offices you can visit, or hotlines to call to ask a person your questions. These kinds of local resources can be particularly helpful in navigating the various benefits you could be entitled to, and aiding in the application processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some offices, like the Department of Benefits and Family Support within \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/\">San Francisco’s Human Services Agency (SFHSA)\u003c/a>, can take your information in one central application and apply for those benefits on your behalf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having the help of a city staffer trained in these applications could save you a lot of time and stress, says Bart Ellison, program manager at SFHSA’s Workforce Development Division — not just because the process is streamlined, but because you’ll be able to ask these folks questions either in person or over the phone. It’s their job to help you — let them do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Your city or county may also have a program to help you find new employment, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/jobs/jobsnow\">SFHSA’s free JobsNOW! program\u003c/a>, which is open to San Francisco job seekers based on their income level, and matches job hunters with roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">Find your local social services office in this statewide list.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Don’t feel weird about claiming the benefits you’re owed\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to claiming benefits after a layoff, Ellison wants to remind you that “we all pay for this through our taxes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s great that if you don’t need it, it’s there. If you do need it, it’s there, and it should be accessed,” Ellison said. “There’s no shame in any of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11957790,news_11970001,news_11967946,news_11968709\" label=\"COVID Resources and Explainers\"]A lot of people also just don’t know about the benefits they could be eligible for, says Ellison, or assume they won’t qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that some of the eligible job seekers he and his team work with in San Francisco might fear coming forward to apply if a member of their family is undocumented, because they think it will cause them problems. “We don’t get involved in any of that,” said Ellison. “They should never fear that situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Try to be patient with how long the application process could take\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellison says he and his team “try not to ask a client for documents that we know we already have in the system” — but concedes that sometimes, this process will feel like providing endless documentation. The benefits you’re applying for can be a mix of federal and state funds, so unfortunately “it’s not just as simple as coming in and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Bart, could you sign me up?,’” said Ellison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more you can follow through with any documentation requests, hopefully the faster and smoother your application process will go. “And if you need more time or need help gathering stuff, that is what the eligibility staff are there for,” said Ellison. “They are there to \u003ci>help \u003c/i>you find some of these things. So you just need to kind of be your own advocate, and speak up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"unemploymentbenefits\">\u003c/a>Step 1: Apply for unemployment benefits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been laid off, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/apply/\">apply for unemployment insurance\u003c/a> (UI, also known just as “unemployment”) from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) as soon as you can. Not only could it take at least three weeks to receive any benefits payments from a successful claim, but your claim begins when you first apply for it — not the day you lose your job. So time is of the essence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who can claim unemployment benefits?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re reading this and you \u003ci>chose\u003c/i> to leave your job, you usually aren’t eligible to claim unemployment. The exception to this is if you quit your job for what EDD calls “good cause,” which can include unsafe working conditions or a doctor’s advice. Whether or not you’re eligible to still claim UI in this situation will be determined by a phone interview with an EDD representative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When applying for UI, you’ll have to show EDD that you have earned enough wages during the base period of 12 months, are totally or partially unemployed, are “unemployed through no fault of your own,” are physically able to work, are available for work and are ready and willing to accept work immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD will also ask you to show that you are “in satisfactory immigration status and authorized to work in the United States” not only now, but when you were earning the wages you’re using to establish your claim. EDD also warns that it will verify your immigration status and work authorization through the Department of Homeland Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/UI-Calculator/\">calculate the amount of unemployment benefits you can receive using this tool\u003c/a>. Remember that the amount of unemployment you’ll receive is based on your wages over the last 18 months, calculated by EDD from a base period of 12 months within that time — and if you didn’t earn any wages during that period, you won’t qualify for unemployment benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/FAQ_-_Eligibility/\">See the EDD’s FAQ on who’s eligible to claim unemployment insurance.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gather your application information\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During your online application for UI, you’ll be asked to submit a lot of information — and it’s easiest to have all that gathered and ready, rather than trying to track it down in the middle of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to your basic identity information, you’ll need:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Your Social Security number\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Your employment authorization information, if you’re not a U.S. citizen\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A photo ID like a passport or driver’s license (for your ID.me account — more below)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You’ll also need to provide your employment history for the last 18 months, which will include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The names of your previous employers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Their addresses\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Their phone numbers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The reason each job ended\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Your gross (total) wages earned\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hours worked per week\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hourly rate of pay\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946480\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946480 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman sits at her kitchen table and sifts through documents, looking concerned. Next to her is her opened laptop.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During your online application for UI, you’ll be asked to submit a lot of information — and it’s easiest to have all that gathered and ready, rather than trying to track it down in the middle of the process. \u003ccite>(MoMo Productions/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Make the online accounts you’ll need to apply \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To apply for UI for the first time, you’ll need to \u003ca href=\"https://portal.edd.ca.gov/WebApp/Registration\">create a new Benefit Programs Online account\u003c/a>, to enable you to log in and manage your UI claim. (You may already have one of these accounts if you’ve previously applied for UI, disability insurance or paid family leave — in that case, use the same one.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you give an email address as part of your Benefit Programs Online application, make sure you check for any emails from EDD. When you get an email with a link to complete your registration, make sure you click that link within 48 hours of receiving it — otherwise, you’ll have to start the registration process all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’ve created your Benefit Programs Online account, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">you’ll then register for UI Online\u003c/a>, which is the part of EDD’s online services that allows you to claim and manage your unemployment benefits. Keep reading for how to file your first UI claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’ll \u003ci>also\u003c/i> need to \u003ca href=\"https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/202673924-Creating-your-ID-me-account\">have an account with ID.me\u003c/a>, the identity verification EDD uses to make sure you’re really you when you’re claiming benefits. You can create your ID.me account before you create your Benefit Programs Online account, or when prompted during the process of creating it. If you’re creating your ID.me account beforehand, just make sure you keep the login details on hand so that you can sign into ID.me when prompted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might consider watching the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moJ1mokMRgc\">EDD’s short instructional video on YouTube about creating these accounts and filing your first UI claim\u003c/a>, so you know what to expect during the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>File your new UI claim\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One big thing: To start using UI Online, you’ll be asked for your “EDD Customer Account Number.” This is a number that’s unique to you, that you can also give instead of your Social Security number on the phone when speaking with an EDD representative. You should receive this number at the preferred email address you gave to EDD — in which case you can start using that EDD Customer Account Number immediately to register for UI Online. It’s also possible to \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/create-account/\">receive this number via mail “10 days after you file your claim,” says EDD\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To file a new claim, \u003ca href=\"https://portal.edd.ca.gov/WebApp/Login?resource_url=https:%2F%2Fportal.edd.ca.gov%2FWebApp%2FHome\">log into your Benefit Programs Online account\u003c/a>, and under “UI Online” select “File New Claim.” Remember you’ll also be asked to briefly sign in to your ID.me account to verify your identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can’t apply with UI Online 24/7, unfortunately — \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">the site has hours of operation\u003c/a> (located on the File and Manage Account tab), which EDD says are currently (all times Pacific Standard Time):\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Sunday: 5 a.m.–8:30 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Monday: 4 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tuesday–Friday: 2 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday: 2 a.m.–8 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you need to pause during the UI Online application process, you can hit “Save as draft” to save your application to return to later — unless it’s \u003ci>after \u003c/i>8 p.m. on the Saturday of the week you’ve started the application. If it’s after 8 p.m. on Saturday, or you’re doing this on a Sunday, you won’t be able to save your application, and you will have to start it all over again if you exit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re having issues with UI Online, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">EDD recommends that you call their help line\u003c/a> at (833) 978-2511 and select option 1 after the introduction, available 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Friday. EDD says that Monday morning before 10 a.m. is their busiest call time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Getting — and keeping — your unemployment benefits\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once your application is complete, be aware of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/After_You_Filed/\">the next steps and further information that EDD will ask of you\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD says that \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/After_You_Filed/\">it “takes at least three weeks to process a claim\u003c/a> for unemployment benefits and issue payment to most eligible workers.” You’ll receive a debit card in the mail, which you can activate and then use to access your payments. If you have an old debit card from a previous UI claim, you can still use that one unless it’s expired (in which case you’ll be sent a new one).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep receiving UI after you first apply, you’ll have to certify for your unemployment benefits again every two weeks to continue receiving payments. You can do this online, by phone or through the mail, but EDD says you’ll get your payments faster if you certify online — and you’ll also get email reminders this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of this certification process every two weeks, you’ll have to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_RgeoPH_g\">attest that you’re actively seeking employment\u003c/a>. This requirement was paused during the pandemic, but has since been reinstated. You’ll also need to \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/jobs_and_training/Caljobs/\">register for CalJOBS and post your resume to the site\u003c/a> to keep receiving your UI benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you start doing any work again after losing your job, it’s very important that you report those earnings when you certify for your UI benefits — because those wages have to be deducted from your unemployment benefits. \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/FAQ-claims/#:~:text=Can%20I%20still%20collect%20benefits,deducted%20from%20your%20unemployment%20payments.\">Read more on how EDD will adjust your UI if you start earning money again while claiming unemployment benefits.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re lucky enough to find a new full-time job, EDD is clear: “If you return to work full time, you will no longer be eligible for unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/certify/\">See EDD’s FAQ on certifying your UI claim every two weeks.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"healthinsurance\">\u003c/a>Step 2: Address your health insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If your health insurance was tied to your employment, you need to act swiftly to ensure you’ll still have access to health care after your job ends. The option that’s best for you after your employment ends will depend primarily on how much income your household will now be receiving after you stop working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember that if you’ve applied for unemployment benefits, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">you’ll need to declare that unemployment compensation as income\u003c/a> when applying for health insurance plans. \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/income-and-household-information/income/\">Get advice on how to estimate your income on your application.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>First, check with your employer on when your health benefits will \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> end.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes a severance package will offer a holdover of benefits, advises the San Francisco’s Human Services Agency’s Bart Ellison. Ask very specific questions of your human resources team, if you have one, about when the last day of your health care will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>See if you can go on a family member’s health care.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing your health care because of a job loss will likely qualify as a special enrollment period for joining a family member’s plan, if eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have a domestic partner, you may be eligible to join their plan. If you’re under 26 years old, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/young-adults/children-under-26/\">you may be able to join a parent’s plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945872\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11945872 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412.jpg\" alt=\"A person with medium-toned skin sits at a wooden table writing on a notepad, surrounded by books. They are wearing a gray t-shirt and have tattooed forearms. We can't see their face.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Applying for benefits you’re entitled to can be a time-consuming process. \u003ccite>(cottonbro studio/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Medi-Cal\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid, which offers health care to lower-income folks throughout the state. Eligibility is assessed by your household income, and for many people who qualify, there is no cost of getting health care through Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laws passed in the last few years in California mean that \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/youngadultexp.aspx\">undocumented people age 25 or under\u003c/a> and also \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/OlderAdultExpansion.aspx\">undocumented adults age 50 and over\u003c/a> are now eligible to receive Medi-Cal, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Covered California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">Medi-Cal has no limited enrollment period\u003c/a> — you can sign up at any time of year if eligible, including if you’ve lost your job. If your children previously were getting health care through your employer’s plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/coverage/ca/index.html\">Medi-Cal — or the Children’s Health Insurance Program — may be able to cover them now\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/Medi-CalFAQs2014a.aspx#1\">See the state’s FAQ about Medi-Cal.\u003c/a> Medi-Cal and Covered California use the same application portal at \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/apply/\">coveredca.com/apply\u003c/a>. Fill out your details, and the site will tell you whether your household income makes you eligible for Medi-Cal or whether you have to choose a private plan from Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Covered California\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is the state’s marketplace that offers private health insurance plans. Depending on your household income, you may qualify for a free or low-cost health plan through Covered California — or you may be eligible to receive financial help through Covered California that could help cover the costs of your premiums and co-pays. As with Medi-Cal, your household income is going to determine what you’re eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving your job for any reason and subsequently \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">losing your job-based health coverage qualifies for a special enrollment period\u003c/a> for signing up for a marketplace health plan. Usually, you’ll get 60 days from the day you lose your coverage to sign up for a health plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/Medi-CalFAQs2014c.aspx#1\">See the state’s FAQ about Covered California.\u003c/a> Remember, Covered California uses the same application portal as Medi-Cal at \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/apply/\">coveredca.com/apply\u003c/a>. Fill out your details, and the site will tell you whether your household income makes you eligible for Medi-Cal or whether you have to choose a private plan from Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>COBRA\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COBRA stands for the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act — and it’s a way of temporarily keeping health care after you leave a job. Instead of opting to sign up for Medi-Cal or a private health insurance plan through Covered California, you can choose so-called “continuation coverage” of your existing health care plan under COBRA, for a certain period of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs-and-Initiatives/Other-Insurance-Protections/cobra_qna\">Health care through COBRA can be applied retroactively\u003c/a>, if you’re unsure about electing it straightaway. The catch: COBRA is expensive, because it’s the health plan your employer was previously paying part or all of — and now, you’re paying all the costs yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Getting back onto health insurance taking a while? Know where your nearest community health center is.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t eligible for coverage through Medi-Cal, but signing up for another health plan is proving challenging right now, you can get low-cost health care at a nearby community health center. Make sure you know where your nearest one is, in case you need access to health care quickly. You can \u003ca href=\"https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/\">use this map to find the closest community health center near you\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>More resources on finding health care after losing your job:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/marketing-blog/health-insurance-for-the-unemployed-from-cobra-to-medi-cal/\">Health Insurance for the Unemployed, from COBRA to Medi-Cal\u003c/a>” (from coveredca.com)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">Health coverage options if you’re unemployed\u003c/a>” (from healthcare.gov)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"otherbenefits\">\u003c/a>Step 3: Don’t forget about other benefits you could be entitled to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The quickest way to see what benefits you might be eligible for now is to \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">do one application through the state’s BenefitsCal portal\u003c/a>. This site will review your information and tell you what you may qualify for, including Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state says this application will take you between 30 minutes and an hour, and if you make an account you can save your progress and return to the application later, rather than having to start again. One catch: Not all counties in California are using this portal yet. \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">Select your county from the drop-down menu\u003c/a> to see whether you have to use another site — \u003ca href=\"https://www.mybenefitscalwin.org/\">mybenefitscalwin.org\u003c/a> — instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other benefits you could be entitled to may include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CalFresh (SNAP)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalFresh is the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food benefits program also known as “food stamps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11943420\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/GettyImages-1144627849-1020x680.jpg\"]According to the state’s data from March 2023, over 3 million households use these funds to ensure they have access to food. You can \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">apply through benefitscal.com\u003c/a>, which will also show you all other benefits you’re entitled to, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcalfresh.org/\">go direct through getcalfresh.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have at least one child in your home, CalWORKs is a public assistance program that offers cash aid and services to eligible families. \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/\">See if your family is eligible to receive CalWORKs at benefitscal.com\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>WIC (Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WIC provides food assistance to lower-income families who have young children or are expecting a new child. Like CalFresh, it’s federally funded, and you can receive WIC benefits on top of your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is income-based, and is available to pregnant people, plus new parents and grandparents of young children.\u003ca href=\"https://myfamily.wic.ca.gov/Home/HowCanIGetWIC#howToGetWIC\"> See whether you’re eligible for WIC and apply online.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on May 19, 2023\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Knowing what to do when you get laid off can feel daunting — especially if losing your job came as a shock. Check out our list of the initial steps to take after a layoff, to ensure you’re in as secure a place as possible.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing what to do when you get laid off can feel like a daunting prospect — especially if losing your job came as a total shock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve compiled a list of the initial steps to take after a layoff, to ensure you’re in as secure a place as possible. Jump straight to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#unemploymentbenefits\">Applying for unemployment benefits\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#healthinsurance\">Keeping your health insurance\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#otherbenefits\">Other benefits you might not know you’re eligible for\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>… Or keep reading. As with the instructions for assembling furniture, you might find it helpful to read all this advice start to finish before you embark on these applications — to be prepared for any bumps you might encounter.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Three tips to making applying for benefits after a layoff easier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your local government may have staff to help you do this\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many cities and counties have their own offices, staff or programs specifically designed for people in your situation right now — which often have physical offices you can visit, or hotlines to call to ask a person your questions. These kinds of local resources can be particularly helpful in navigating the various benefits you could be entitled to, and aiding in the application processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some offices, like the Department of Benefits and Family Support within \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/\">San Francisco’s Human Services Agency (SFHSA)\u003c/a>, can take your information in one central application and apply for those benefits on your behalf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having the help of a city staffer trained in these applications could save you a lot of time and stress, says Bart Ellison, program manager at SFHSA’s Workforce Development Division — not just because the process is streamlined, but because you’ll be able to ask these folks questions either in person or over the phone. It’s their job to help you — let them do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Your city or county may also have a program to help you find new employment, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/jobs/jobsnow\">SFHSA’s free JobsNOW! program\u003c/a>, which is open to San Francisco job seekers based on their income level, and matches job hunters with roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">Find your local social services office in this statewide list.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Don’t feel weird about claiming the benefits you’re owed\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to claiming benefits after a layoff, Ellison wants to remind you that “we all pay for this through our taxes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s great that if you don’t need it, it’s there. If you do need it, it’s there, and it should be accessed,” Ellison said. “There’s no shame in any of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A lot of people also just don’t know about the benefits they could be eligible for, says Ellison, or assume they won’t qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that some of the eligible job seekers he and his team work with in San Francisco might fear coming forward to apply if a member of their family is undocumented, because they think it will cause them problems. “We don’t get involved in any of that,” said Ellison. “They should never fear that situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Try to be patient with how long the application process could take\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellison says he and his team “try not to ask a client for documents that we know we already have in the system” — but concedes that sometimes, this process will feel like providing endless documentation. The benefits you’re applying for can be a mix of federal and state funds, so unfortunately “it’s not just as simple as coming in and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Bart, could you sign me up?,’” said Ellison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more you can follow through with any documentation requests, hopefully the faster and smoother your application process will go. “And if you need more time or need help gathering stuff, that is what the eligibility staff are there for,” said Ellison. “They are there to \u003ci>help \u003c/i>you find some of these things. So you just need to kind of be your own advocate, and speak up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"unemploymentbenefits\">\u003c/a>Step 1: Apply for unemployment benefits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been laid off, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/apply/\">apply for unemployment insurance\u003c/a> (UI, also known just as “unemployment”) from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) as soon as you can. Not only could it take at least three weeks to receive any benefits payments from a successful claim, but your claim begins when you first apply for it — not the day you lose your job. So time is of the essence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who can claim unemployment benefits?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re reading this and you \u003ci>chose\u003c/i> to leave your job, you usually aren’t eligible to claim unemployment. The exception to this is if you quit your job for what EDD calls “good cause,” which can include unsafe working conditions or a doctor’s advice. Whether or not you’re eligible to still claim UI in this situation will be determined by a phone interview with an EDD representative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When applying for UI, you’ll have to show EDD that you have earned enough wages during the base period of 12 months, are totally or partially unemployed, are “unemployed through no fault of your own,” are physically able to work, are available for work and are ready and willing to accept work immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD will also ask you to show that you are “in satisfactory immigration status and authorized to work in the United States” not only now, but when you were earning the wages you’re using to establish your claim. EDD also warns that it will verify your immigration status and work authorization through the Department of Homeland Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/UI-Calculator/\">calculate the amount of unemployment benefits you can receive using this tool\u003c/a>. Remember that the amount of unemployment you’ll receive is based on your wages over the last 18 months, calculated by EDD from a base period of 12 months within that time — and if you didn’t earn any wages during that period, you won’t qualify for unemployment benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/FAQ_-_Eligibility/\">See the EDD’s FAQ on who’s eligible to claim unemployment insurance.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gather your application information\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During your online application for UI, you’ll be asked to submit a lot of information — and it’s easiest to have all that gathered and ready, rather than trying to track it down in the middle of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to your basic identity information, you’ll need:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Your Social Security number\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Your employment authorization information, if you’re not a U.S. citizen\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A photo ID like a passport or driver’s license (for your ID.me account — more below)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You’ll also need to provide your employment history for the last 18 months, which will include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The names of your previous employers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Their addresses\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Their phone numbers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The reason each job ended\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Your gross (total) wages earned\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hours worked per week\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hourly rate of pay\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946480\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946480 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman sits at her kitchen table and sifts through documents, looking concerned. Next to her is her opened laptop.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/GettyImages-1400799758-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During your online application for UI, you’ll be asked to submit a lot of information — and it’s easiest to have all that gathered and ready, rather than trying to track it down in the middle of the process. \u003ccite>(MoMo Productions/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Make the online accounts you’ll need to apply \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To apply for UI for the first time, you’ll need to \u003ca href=\"https://portal.edd.ca.gov/WebApp/Registration\">create a new Benefit Programs Online account\u003c/a>, to enable you to log in and manage your UI claim. (You may already have one of these accounts if you’ve previously applied for UI, disability insurance or paid family leave — in that case, use the same one.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you give an email address as part of your Benefit Programs Online application, make sure you check for any emails from EDD. When you get an email with a link to complete your registration, make sure you click that link within 48 hours of receiving it — otherwise, you’ll have to start the registration process all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’ve created your Benefit Programs Online account, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">you’ll then register for UI Online\u003c/a>, which is the part of EDD’s online services that allows you to claim and manage your unemployment benefits. Keep reading for how to file your first UI claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’ll \u003ci>also\u003c/i> need to \u003ca href=\"https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/202673924-Creating-your-ID-me-account\">have an account with ID.me\u003c/a>, the identity verification EDD uses to make sure you’re really you when you’re claiming benefits. You can create your ID.me account before you create your Benefit Programs Online account, or when prompted during the process of creating it. If you’re creating your ID.me account beforehand, just make sure you keep the login details on hand so that you can sign into ID.me when prompted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might consider watching the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moJ1mokMRgc\">EDD’s short instructional video on YouTube about creating these accounts and filing your first UI claim\u003c/a>, so you know what to expect during the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>File your new UI claim\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One big thing: To start using UI Online, you’ll be asked for your “EDD Customer Account Number.” This is a number that’s unique to you, that you can also give instead of your Social Security number on the phone when speaking with an EDD representative. You should receive this number at the preferred email address you gave to EDD — in which case you can start using that EDD Customer Account Number immediately to register for UI Online. It’s also possible to \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/create-account/\">receive this number via mail “10 days after you file your claim,” says EDD\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To file a new claim, \u003ca href=\"https://portal.edd.ca.gov/WebApp/Login?resource_url=https:%2F%2Fportal.edd.ca.gov%2FWebApp%2FHome\">log into your Benefit Programs Online account\u003c/a>, and under “UI Online” select “File New Claim.” Remember you’ll also be asked to briefly sign in to your ID.me account to verify your identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can’t apply with UI Online 24/7, unfortunately — \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">the site has hours of operation\u003c/a> (located on the File and Manage Account tab), which EDD says are currently (all times Pacific Standard Time):\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Sunday: 5 a.m.–8:30 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Monday: 4 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tuesday–Friday: 2 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday: 2 a.m.–8 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you need to pause during the UI Online application process, you can hit “Save as draft” to save your application to return to later — unless it’s \u003ci>after \u003c/i>8 p.m. on the Saturday of the week you’ve started the application. If it’s after 8 p.m. on Saturday, or you’re doing this on a Sunday, you won’t be able to save your application, and you will have to start it all over again if you exit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re having issues with UI Online, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/ui_online/\">EDD recommends that you call their help line\u003c/a> at (833) 978-2511 and select option 1 after the introduction, available 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Friday. EDD says that Monday morning before 10 a.m. is their busiest call time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Getting — and keeping — your unemployment benefits\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once your application is complete, be aware of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/After_You_Filed/\">the next steps and further information that EDD will ask of you\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD says that \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/After_You_Filed/\">it “takes at least three weeks to process a claim\u003c/a> for unemployment benefits and issue payment to most eligible workers.” You’ll receive a debit card in the mail, which you can activate and then use to access your payments. If you have an old debit card from a previous UI claim, you can still use that one unless it’s expired (in which case you’ll be sent a new one).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep receiving UI after you first apply, you’ll have to certify for your unemployment benefits again every two weeks to continue receiving payments. You can do this online, by phone or through the mail, but EDD says you’ll get your payments faster if you certify online — and you’ll also get email reminders this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of this certification process every two weeks, you’ll have to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_RgeoPH_g\">attest that you’re actively seeking employment\u003c/a>. This requirement was paused during the pandemic, but has since been reinstated. You’ll also need to \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/jobs_and_training/Caljobs/\">register for CalJOBS and post your resume to the site\u003c/a> to keep receiving your UI benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you start doing any work again after losing your job, it’s very important that you report those earnings when you certify for your UI benefits — because those wages have to be deducted from your unemployment benefits. \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/FAQ-claims/#:~:text=Can%20I%20still%20collect%20benefits,deducted%20from%20your%20unemployment%20payments.\">Read more on how EDD will adjust your UI if you start earning money again while claiming unemployment benefits.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re lucky enough to find a new full-time job, EDD is clear: “If you return to work full time, you will no longer be eligible for unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/certify/\">See EDD’s FAQ on certifying your UI claim every two weeks.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"healthinsurance\">\u003c/a>Step 2: Address your health insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If your health insurance was tied to your employment, you need to act swiftly to ensure you’ll still have access to health care after your job ends. The option that’s best for you after your employment ends will depend primarily on how much income your household will now be receiving after you stop working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember that if you’ve applied for unemployment benefits, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">you’ll need to declare that unemployment compensation as income\u003c/a> when applying for health insurance plans. \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/income-and-household-information/income/\">Get advice on how to estimate your income on your application.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>First, check with your employer on when your health benefits will \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> end.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes a severance package will offer a holdover of benefits, advises the San Francisco’s Human Services Agency’s Bart Ellison. Ask very specific questions of your human resources team, if you have one, about when the last day of your health care will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>See if you can go on a family member’s health care.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing your health care because of a job loss will likely qualify as a special enrollment period for joining a family member’s plan, if eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have a domestic partner, you may be eligible to join their plan. If you’re under 26 years old, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/young-adults/children-under-26/\">you may be able to join a parent’s plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945872\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11945872 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412.jpg\" alt=\"A person with medium-toned skin sits at a wooden table writing on a notepad, surrounded by books. They are wearing a gray t-shirt and have tattooed forearms. We can't see their face.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/pexels-cottonbro-studio-4778412-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Applying for benefits you’re entitled to can be a time-consuming process. \u003ccite>(cottonbro studio/Pexels)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Medi-Cal\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid, which offers health care to lower-income folks throughout the state. Eligibility is assessed by your household income, and for many people who qualify, there is no cost of getting health care through Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laws passed in the last few years in California mean that \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/youngadultexp.aspx\">undocumented people age 25 or under\u003c/a> and also \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/OlderAdultExpansion.aspx\">undocumented adults age 50 and over\u003c/a> are now eligible to receive Medi-Cal, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Covered California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">Medi-Cal has no limited enrollment period\u003c/a> — you can sign up at any time of year if eligible, including if you’ve lost your job. If your children previously were getting health care through your employer’s plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/coverage/ca/index.html\">Medi-Cal — or the Children’s Health Insurance Program — may be able to cover them now\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/Medi-CalFAQs2014a.aspx#1\">See the state’s FAQ about Medi-Cal.\u003c/a> Medi-Cal and Covered California use the same application portal at \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/apply/\">coveredca.com/apply\u003c/a>. Fill out your details, and the site will tell you whether your household income makes you eligible for Medi-Cal or whether you have to choose a private plan from Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Covered California\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is the state’s marketplace that offers private health insurance plans. Depending on your household income, you may qualify for a free or low-cost health plan through Covered California — or you may be eligible to receive financial help through Covered California that could help cover the costs of your premiums and co-pays. As with Medi-Cal, your household income is going to determine what you’re eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving your job for any reason and subsequently \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">losing your job-based health coverage qualifies for a special enrollment period\u003c/a> for signing up for a marketplace health plan. Usually, you’ll get 60 days from the day you lose your coverage to sign up for a health plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/Medi-CalFAQs2014c.aspx#1\">See the state’s FAQ about Covered California.\u003c/a> Remember, Covered California uses the same application portal as Medi-Cal at \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/apply/\">coveredca.com/apply\u003c/a>. Fill out your details, and the site will tell you whether your household income makes you eligible for Medi-Cal or whether you have to choose a private plan from Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>COBRA\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COBRA stands for the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act — and it’s a way of temporarily keeping health care after you leave a job. Instead of opting to sign up for Medi-Cal or a private health insurance plan through Covered California, you can choose so-called “continuation coverage” of your existing health care plan under COBRA, for a certain period of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs-and-Initiatives/Other-Insurance-Protections/cobra_qna\">Health care through COBRA can be applied retroactively\u003c/a>, if you’re unsure about electing it straightaway. The catch: COBRA is expensive, because it’s the health plan your employer was previously paying part or all of — and now, you’re paying all the costs yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Getting back onto health insurance taking a while? Know where your nearest community health center is.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t eligible for coverage through Medi-Cal, but signing up for another health plan is proving challenging right now, you can get low-cost health care at a nearby community health center. Make sure you know where your nearest one is, in case you need access to health care quickly. You can \u003ca href=\"https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/\">use this map to find the closest community health center near you\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>More resources on finding health care after losing your job:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/marketing-blog/health-insurance-for-the-unemployed-from-cobra-to-medi-cal/\">Health Insurance for the Unemployed, from COBRA to Medi-Cal\u003c/a>” (from coveredca.com)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/\">Health coverage options if you’re unemployed\u003c/a>” (from healthcare.gov)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"otherbenefits\">\u003c/a>Step 3: Don’t forget about other benefits you could be entitled to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The quickest way to see what benefits you might be eligible for now is to \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">do one application through the state’s BenefitsCal portal\u003c/a>. This site will review your information and tell you what you may qualify for, including Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state says this application will take you between 30 minutes and an hour, and if you make an account you can save your progress and return to the application later, rather than having to start again. One catch: Not all counties in California are using this portal yet. \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">Select your county from the drop-down menu\u003c/a> to see whether you have to use another site — \u003ca href=\"https://www.mybenefitscalwin.org/\">mybenefitscalwin.org\u003c/a> — instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other benefits you could be entitled to may include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CalFresh (SNAP)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalFresh is the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food benefits program also known as “food stamps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to the state’s data from March 2023, over 3 million households use these funds to ensure they have access to food. You can \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/ApplyForBenefits/ABOVR\">apply through benefitscal.com\u003c/a>, which will also show you all other benefits you’re entitled to, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcalfresh.org/\">go direct through getcalfresh.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have at least one child in your home, CalWORKs is a public assistance program that offers cash aid and services to eligible families. \u003ca href=\"https://benefitscal.com/\">See if your family is eligible to receive CalWORKs at benefitscal.com\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>WIC (Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WIC provides food assistance to lower-income families who have young children or are expecting a new child. Like CalFresh, it’s federally funded, and you can receive WIC benefits on top of your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is income-based, and is available to pregnant people, plus new parents and grandparents of young children.\u003ca href=\"https://myfamily.wic.ca.gov/Home/HowCanIGetWIC#howToGetWIC\"> See whether you’re eligible for WIC and apply online.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published on May 19, 2023\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Inside California’s Billion-Dollar Bet to Overhaul Its Embattled Unemployment System",
"headTitle": "Inside California’s Billion-Dollar Bet to Overhaul Its Embattled Unemployment System | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Five years, $1.2 billion. And a new model for government contracting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is what California officials say it will take to overhaul an employment safety net pushed to the brink by record pandemic job losses, widespread fraud and the political panic that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most sweeping attempt to date to reform California’s Employment Development Department, an effort dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/about_edd/eddnext/\">EDDNext\u003c/a>,” officially started late last year. A roughly 100-person team is leading the rebuild, and is already signing multimillion-dollar contracts for Salesforce and Amazon technology, according to interviews and records requested by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the EDD is quietly making plans to move on from its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/?\">turbulent relationship\u003c/a> with longtime unemployment payment contractor Bank of America. Between now and 2025, it will begin rolling out new benefit debit cards and, eventually, a direct-deposit payment option from a different, yet-to-be-named contractor, the agency said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ron Hughes, a former state technology official and consultant who came out of retirement to run EDDNext said his team is prioritizing “the biggest pain points for the public” — online accounts, call centers, identity verification, benefit applications — as the agency tries to turn the page on an era of mass payment delays and widespread fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EDD did over 200 technology projects during the pandemic. They were basically putting out fires,” Hughes told CalMatters. “EDDNext is really a way of being proactive about it. We want to solve some of these problems instead of just putting Band-Aids on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many workers still experiencing payment delays, fraud confusion and jammed phone lines are skeptical — especially since the EDD promised many similar changes after the Great Recession around 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a longstanding narrative … like, ‘Look, see, this is a program that people just abuse,’” said Jenna Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “If people are concerned with actual fraud, then I want to look at what solves it: fundamental reform of the system.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jennifer Pahlka, political adviser\"]‘Do I know how to wave a magic wand and fix California’s unemployment insurance system? No, I don’t. But I do know that what we’re currently doing doesn’t work and that other states have some approaches that we should be trying out.’[/pullquote]For Jennifer Pahlka, who co-led Gov. Gavin Newsom’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">task force\u003c/a> to triage COVID-era problems at the EDD, the challenge ahead is emblematic of difficulties that many government agencies face in adapting to the digital age. In her book “Recoding America,” Pahlka wrote that the EDD, with its patchwork computer systems and 800-page staff training manual, is failing to keep pace, as inequality widens and risks like fraud evolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I know how to wave a magic wand and fix California’s unemployment insurance system? No, I don’t,” Pahlka said in an interview. “But I do know that what we’re currently doing doesn’t work and that other states have some approaches that we should be trying out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD Director Nancy Farias has read Pahlka’s book and the many state audits that have dissected the agency’s recurring failures. She’s well aware of the “light switch” trap, where a government agency bets everything on one, years-long tech project, then prays it all works when a switch is flipped. To try to avoid that, she and Hughes decided to break EDDNext into dozens of smaller projects through 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It leaves less room for a big failure,” said Farias, a former labor union executive. “You can have the best IT in the world, but if you don’t change your policies and procedures, it does not matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The COVID hangover\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This past summer, San Diego jewelry maker Phaedra Huebner found herself stuck in a loop that might sound familiar to people who filed for unemployment early in the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huebner, 52, recalls how at 8 a.m. every day, she dialed the EDD right as its call centers opened to ask where her benefits were. She would use a trick she learned on YouTube to bypass pre-recorded messages, punch in her Social Security Number and hope to get in the queue to talk with a real person. She would then redial, up to 67 times a day, bouncing between departments and, more often than not, hanging up without any answers about when she might see the money she needed to make rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The twist: Huebner wasn’t actually filing for unemployment but rather for disability. After each day on the phone, she would wrap ice packs around her hands and arms to ease the shooting pain that put her out of work in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For six weeks, I should have been resting,” Huebner said in early September. “Instead, I’m in pain with no disability income doing all of my own administrative work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD’s benefit programs have always been complex and highly individualized. In most cases, people applying for benefits do not encounter significant delays, the agency told CalMatters in a statement. It cited its \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/about_edd/eddnext/Benefiting-Californians-May-2023/#CustomerSatisfaction\">2022 survey\u003c/a> of several thousand people using its benefit systems, where 69% reported they were “completely or mostly satisfied” with the unemployment application process, and 63% said they were satisfied with the disability process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966715\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman walks past the Employment Development Department building.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Employment Development Department offices in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2022. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The problem, workers and attorneys say, is that even a portion of the EDD’s customer base amounts to tens of thousands of people, so when things go wrong, the impacts can be huge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2022, for instance, the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/01/california-edd-fraud/\">EDD froze\u003c/a> 345,000 disability accounts, including an unknown number of legitimate ones, amid a wave of suspected fraud involving claims tied to fake doctors. Putting stronger safeguards in place is one of the “lessons learned from the pandemic that we should be applying to every program,” former California State Auditor Elaine Howle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People saw the [unemployment] program was being defrauded left and right,” Howle said, “and it was like, ‘Shoot, if I can do that, what other programs are out there that I can defraud?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mason Wilder, research manager of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said unemployment and disability programs are just two examples of many public and private sector systems being targeted as online fraud gets easier. It now costs as little as \u003ca href=\"https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/five-key-moments-from-oversight-subcommittee-hearing-on-pandemic-fraud/\">25 cents\u003c/a> to buy a bunk Social Security number online, leading to a cycle of large-scale attacks followed by broad fraud crackdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risk of unsuspecting people getting caught in dragnets is only anticipated to grow, Wilder and other analysts say, as technologies such as artificial intelligence allow scammers to work faster and more easily forge documents. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/01/calfresh-calworks-thefts/\">Benefit debit cards\u003c/a> used by California’s CalFresh food assistance and CalWorks cash aid programs have also been targeted in recent fraud schemes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes kind of whack-a-mole,” Wilder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And EDD’s pandemic unemployment problems have certainly not been neatly resolved. As of September, more than \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">130,000 California workers\u003c/a> were still fighting long \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/05/california-edd-unemployment-appeals/\">unemployment appeals\u003c/a> cases, waiting an average of 137 days for a hearing with a state administrative judge, according to U.S. Labor Department data analyzed by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD’s data shows that the number of rejected unemployment claims has climbed steadily since the start of the pandemic, to more than \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">1.9 million claims\u003c/a> rejected from March 2020 through October 2023. The agency said that reflects the success of anti-fraud measures, but advocates see it as evidence that the state also continues to trap legitimate workers. They point to federal data showing that EDD decisions \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_appeal_reversal.asp\">are overturned\u003c/a> almost half the time on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely don’t think anything’s been resolved,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at Legal Aid at Work. “A lot of the issues remain the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966710\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966710\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman in a magenta pantsuit sits under a tree outside an office building.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nancy Farias, director of the California Employment Development Department, in front of the agency’s offices in Sacramento on Oct. 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The EDD stresses that \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/audit-progress/\">it has implemented\u003c/a> changes recommended by the California state auditor, including providing more public data and creating a new plan for future recessions. However, the auditor remains unconvinced that several major issues have been remedied. This past summer, the auditor added the EDD to its list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2023-601.pdf\">“high-risk” state agencies\u003c/a>, unlocking additional resources for potential future audits. Top concerns were poor customer service, high rates of benefit denials overturned on appeal, and the agency’s inability to tally pandemic fraud, delaying the state’s two most recent annual financial reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EDD’s mismanagement of the [unemployment] program has resulted in a substantial risk of serious detriment to the state and its residents,” the auditor’s latest report concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farias said that all states face similar challenges, especially when quantifying fraud that is widely varied and, for obvious reasons, difficult to trace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no definition of what is fraud … and that’s really the biggest problem,” said Farias, who also sits on the board of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. “There is Nigerian fraud ring fraud — Fraud with a capital ‘F’ — and then there is, you know, Mary Jo Smith down the street that really didn’t understand what the program was.”[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"edd\"]In San Diego, Huebner unexpectedly got an up-close look at how identity verification issues continue to plague the EDD. After she filed for disability, it took six weeks to get her first check. But then she received a letter in the mail addressed to a woman with a different name and employer in Northern California that said her benefits had been discontinued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Huebner tried to call to figure out what was going on, she realized that her YouTube trick to get through on the phone no longer worked, throwing her back into benefit limbo while she recovered from a spinal procedure and waited to see if a new EDD debit card showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They won’t tell you anything,” Huebner said in late October. “Pain is one thing, but helplessness is totally different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s next for California unemployment reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before he was hired to fix the state’s pandemic problem child, EDDNext director Hughes was enjoying retirement on his Sierra foothills ranch dotted with cattle, horses and sheep. He put that on hold and went back to work at the EDD at the request of Farias, his former colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hughes is quick to note that he wasn’t there for the worst of the pandemic issues. He spends a lot of time talking with other state tech executives who can empathize, such as peers at the DMV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even from the outside, it wasn’t hard to see what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you roll out a solution, it needs to work. If it doesn’t work and they call the help desk, you need to answer the phone,” Hughes said. “We didn’t do either of those things very well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, his team launched a new online portal called “MyEDD,” which uses Salesforce technology for workers to file and track the status of their benefits. Some users \u003ca href=\"https://kmph.com/news/local/californias-edd-faces-backlash-over-problematic-new-website-users-unable-to-access-benefits\">reported crashes\u003c/a> during the first days of the rollout, but the system eventually stabilized. It will be built out over time, Hughes said, as the agency works through contracts for identity verification and a “claims navigator” to show workers all benefits they are eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new call center system using Amazon technology is slated to debut within the year. First for the state’s older disability system at the end of 2023, Hughes said, then for unemployment next summer. The idea is to ultimately go from the five or six systems that EDD agents currently juggle to one system for processing claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under the new system, there is a single pane of glass,” Hughes said. “As soon as they call in, all the information on their claim will come up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the EDD has tried to streamline its claims system, parts of which date back to the 1980s. Pahlka, in her book, compares making sense of the patchwork programs to going on an archaeological dig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966711\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1764px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png\" alt=\"A line chart showing Deloite's contracts with EDD.\" width=\"1764\" height=\"868\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png 1764w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-800x394.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-1020x502.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-160x79.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-1536x756.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1764px) 100vw, 1764px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">EDD\u003c/a> \u003ccite>(Calmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the Great Recession, the state \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">paid Deloitte\u003c/a> to upgrade several facets of its operation, including part of its claim management systems, in a series of contracts that ballooned to more than $152 million from 2010 to 2018, copies provided to CalMatters show. That system was one of several that \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">state reports\u003c/a> later found buckled during COVID, but Deloitte was then awarded another $118 million as the state doled out emergency pandemic funds, according to the contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The irony, as Pahlka observed in her book, is that the money went to the very vendor “which built the ineffectual systems in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat from Orange County who sits on a U.S. House Oversight Committee that has investigated pandemic unemployment fraud, sighed heavily when asked about the past Deloitte “unemployment modernization” project — her response, she said, to both the contractor in question and the broader lack of oversight on big-budget projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Deloitte has an unfortunate track record of not getting it done here,” Porter said. “If we’re going to contract this and spend our dollars with a private company to do this, we have to hold them accountable for delivering.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ron Hughes, EDDNext director\"]‘When you roll out a solution, it needs to work. If it doesn’t work and they call the help desk, you need to answer the phone. We didn’t do either of those things very well.’[/pullquote]Deloitte defended its work for the EDD, noting in a statement that “many technology constraints highlighted by California elected officials during the pandemic related to functions in EDD systems that Deloitte was not contracted to maintain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company declined to comment on whether it intends to bid on the new EDDNext project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hughes said that no vendor is off the table for EDDNext but that past contract performance will be considered for all bidders. This time around, Hughes said, the plan is structured to include more oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just way too much work for one vendor to do, and so we’ve split that up,” he said. “We’ve got different vendors doing different solutions. We can manage them much more effectively that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Familiar fights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another promise of EDDNext, Farias said, is that workers, advocates, and frontline staff will have more of a say in how the project is built. The agency has also created a new customer experience arm, which outside observers like Pahlka see as a promising development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gerry of the National Employment Law Project was among the worker advocates briefly shown a version of the new EDD online portal before it launched. It will require more sustained effort, she said, to ensure that people relying on the system end up with something easier to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard because, yes, we see certain incremental changes, but these systemic issues are still there,” Gerry said. “Unless there really is a big overhaul within the agency culture and the way they’re approaching this EDDNext project, we’re going to see these problems continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD maintains that more visible changes are coming, including a planned redesign of the agency’s 10 most-used forms to cut unnecessary questions, translate them into more languages, and make them easier to understand and access online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar efforts are also underway in many other states, where officials have raised questions about whether the federal government should do more to standardize applications, anti-fraud measures or other elements of the system. Robert Asaro-Angelo, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, recently told a U.S. House committee that states and territories that all currently have their own processes could use more guidance to bolster security while ensuring rightful benefits are paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We keep talking as if there’s one unemployment system. There’s 53 different systems,” Asaro-Angelo said. “These fraudsters being able to pick and choose — they couldn’t be happier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, concerns about the nuts and bolts of the state’s unemployment program are magnified by a more fundamental concern: the financial quicksand beneath the entire system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/779\">unemployment fund\u003c/a> that pays for benefits is operating in the red, or “structurally insolvent,” as the California Legislative Analyst’s Office put it in a July 2023 report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the state was making progress on paying down its $20 billion-plus pandemic unemployment loan from the federal government, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/pdf/edduiforecastmay23.pdf\">state forecasts\u003c/a> now show the debt creeping back up, adding urgency to a fight over \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/10/unemployment-insurance-debt/\">whether to change California’s 1980s-era tax system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Business groups are already pushing Newsom to use other state money to pay down the debt despite California’s current budget deficit. The state has spent more than $680 million in recent years to pay interest on the federal loan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s vast unemployment insurance system has been under enormous strain since 2020, and employers are paying the price,” the \u003ca href=\"https://advocacy.calchamber.com/2023/08/28/study-shows-employers-paying-price-for-strain-on-unemployment-insurance-system/\">California Chamber of Commerce\u003c/a> argued in an August report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her vantage point at Sacramento’s Center for Workers’ Rights, labor lawyer Daniela Urban has watched cycles like this play out before. When the economy tanks, everyone — stressed-out workers, angry lawmakers, state watchdogs, the governor — wants to know what’s happening at the EDD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as people go back to work, the outside interest and funding wane: a collective failure to fix the system before the next time things go south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once the watchful eye is gone, I worry that it will be neglected,” Urban said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Employment Development Department is getting a major rebuild from big-name tech companies as pandemic payment disputes drag on and fraud hits other state benefit systems.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Five years, $1.2 billion. And a new model for government contracting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is what California officials say it will take to overhaul an employment safety net pushed to the brink by record pandemic job losses, widespread fraud and the political panic that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most sweeping attempt to date to reform California’s Employment Development Department, an effort dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/about_edd/eddnext/\">EDDNext\u003c/a>,” officially started late last year. A roughly 100-person team is leading the rebuild, and is already signing multimillion-dollar contracts for Salesforce and Amazon technology, according to interviews and records requested by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the EDD is quietly making plans to move on from its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/?\">turbulent relationship\u003c/a> with longtime unemployment payment contractor Bank of America. Between now and 2025, it will begin rolling out new benefit debit cards and, eventually, a direct-deposit payment option from a different, yet-to-be-named contractor, the agency said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ron Hughes, a former state technology official and consultant who came out of retirement to run EDDNext said his team is prioritizing “the biggest pain points for the public” — online accounts, call centers, identity verification, benefit applications — as the agency tries to turn the page on an era of mass payment delays and widespread fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EDD did over 200 technology projects during the pandemic. They were basically putting out fires,” Hughes told CalMatters. “EDDNext is really a way of being proactive about it. We want to solve some of these problems instead of just putting Band-Aids on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many workers still experiencing payment delays, fraud confusion and jammed phone lines are skeptical — especially since the EDD promised many similar changes after the Great Recession around 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a longstanding narrative … like, ‘Look, see, this is a program that people just abuse,’” said Jenna Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “If people are concerned with actual fraud, then I want to look at what solves it: fundamental reform of the system.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Do I know how to wave a magic wand and fix California’s unemployment insurance system? No, I don’t. But I do know that what we’re currently doing doesn’t work and that other states have some approaches that we should be trying out.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For Jennifer Pahlka, who co-led Gov. Gavin Newsom’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">task force\u003c/a> to triage COVID-era problems at the EDD, the challenge ahead is emblematic of difficulties that many government agencies face in adapting to the digital age. In her book “Recoding America,” Pahlka wrote that the EDD, with its patchwork computer systems and 800-page staff training manual, is failing to keep pace, as inequality widens and risks like fraud evolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I know how to wave a magic wand and fix California’s unemployment insurance system? No, I don’t,” Pahlka said in an interview. “But I do know that what we’re currently doing doesn’t work and that other states have some approaches that we should be trying out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EDD Director Nancy Farias has read Pahlka’s book and the many state audits that have dissected the agency’s recurring failures. She’s well aware of the “light switch” trap, where a government agency bets everything on one, years-long tech project, then prays it all works when a switch is flipped. To try to avoid that, she and Hughes decided to break EDDNext into dozens of smaller projects through 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It leaves less room for a big failure,” said Farias, a former labor union executive. “You can have the best IT in the world, but if you don’t change your policies and procedures, it does not matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The COVID hangover\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This past summer, San Diego jewelry maker Phaedra Huebner found herself stuck in a loop that might sound familiar to people who filed for unemployment early in the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huebner, 52, recalls how at 8 a.m. every day, she dialed the EDD right as its call centers opened to ask where her benefits were. She would use a trick she learned on YouTube to bypass pre-recorded messages, punch in her Social Security Number and hope to get in the queue to talk with a real person. She would then redial, up to 67 times a day, bouncing between departments and, more often than not, hanging up without any answers about when she might see the money she needed to make rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The twist: Huebner wasn’t actually filing for unemployment but rather for disability. After each day on the phone, she would wrap ice packs around her hands and arms to ease the shooting pain that put her out of work in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For six weeks, I should have been resting,” Huebner said in early September. “Instead, I’m in pain with no disability income doing all of my own administrative work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD’s benefit programs have always been complex and highly individualized. In most cases, people applying for benefits do not encounter significant delays, the agency told CalMatters in a statement. It cited its \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/about_edd/eddnext/Benefiting-Californians-May-2023/#CustomerSatisfaction\">2022 survey\u003c/a> of several thousand people using its benefit systems, where 69% reported they were “completely or mostly satisfied” with the unemployment application process, and 63% said they were satisfied with the disability process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966715\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman walks past the Employment Development Department building.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/011022-EDD-Sacramento-MG-CM-03-1-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Employment Development Department offices in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2022. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The problem, workers and attorneys say, is that even a portion of the EDD’s customer base amounts to tens of thousands of people, so when things go wrong, the impacts can be huge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2022, for instance, the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/01/california-edd-fraud/\">EDD froze\u003c/a> 345,000 disability accounts, including an unknown number of legitimate ones, amid a wave of suspected fraud involving claims tied to fake doctors. Putting stronger safeguards in place is one of the “lessons learned from the pandemic that we should be applying to every program,” former California State Auditor Elaine Howle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People saw the [unemployment] program was being defrauded left and right,” Howle said, “and it was like, ‘Shoot, if I can do that, what other programs are out there that I can defraud?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mason Wilder, research manager of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said unemployment and disability programs are just two examples of many public and private sector systems being targeted as online fraud gets easier. It now costs as little as \u003ca href=\"https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/five-key-moments-from-oversight-subcommittee-hearing-on-pandemic-fraud/\">25 cents\u003c/a> to buy a bunk Social Security number online, leading to a cycle of large-scale attacks followed by broad fraud crackdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risk of unsuspecting people getting caught in dragnets is only anticipated to grow, Wilder and other analysts say, as technologies such as artificial intelligence allow scammers to work faster and more easily forge documents. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/01/calfresh-calworks-thefts/\">Benefit debit cards\u003c/a> used by California’s CalFresh food assistance and CalWorks cash aid programs have also been targeted in recent fraud schemes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes kind of whack-a-mole,” Wilder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And EDD’s pandemic unemployment problems have certainly not been neatly resolved. As of September, more than \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">130,000 California workers\u003c/a> were still fighting long \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/05/california-edd-unemployment-appeals/\">unemployment appeals\u003c/a> cases, waiting an average of 137 days for a hearing with a state administrative judge, according to U.S. Labor Department data analyzed by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD’s data shows that the number of rejected unemployment claims has climbed steadily since the start of the pandemic, to more than \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">1.9 million claims\u003c/a> rejected from March 2020 through October 2023. The agency said that reflects the success of anti-fraud measures, but advocates see it as evidence that the state also continues to trap legitimate workers. They point to federal data showing that EDD decisions \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_appeal_reversal.asp\">are overturned\u003c/a> almost half the time on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely don’t think anything’s been resolved,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at Legal Aid at Work. “A lot of the issues remain the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966710\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1536px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966710\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman in a magenta pantsuit sits under a tree outside an office building.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/102623_EDD-Nancy-Farias-MG_CM_05-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nancy Farias, director of the California Employment Development Department, in front of the agency’s offices in Sacramento on Oct. 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The EDD stresses that \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/audit-progress/\">it has implemented\u003c/a> changes recommended by the California state auditor, including providing more public data and creating a new plan for future recessions. However, the auditor remains unconvinced that several major issues have been remedied. This past summer, the auditor added the EDD to its list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2023-601.pdf\">“high-risk” state agencies\u003c/a>, unlocking additional resources for potential future audits. Top concerns were poor customer service, high rates of benefit denials overturned on appeal, and the agency’s inability to tally pandemic fraud, delaying the state’s two most recent annual financial reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EDD’s mismanagement of the [unemployment] program has resulted in a substantial risk of serious detriment to the state and its residents,” the auditor’s latest report concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farias said that all states face similar challenges, especially when quantifying fraud that is widely varied and, for obvious reasons, difficult to trace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no definition of what is fraud … and that’s really the biggest problem,” said Farias, who also sits on the board of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. “There is Nigerian fraud ring fraud — Fraud with a capital ‘F’ — and then there is, you know, Mary Jo Smith down the street that really didn’t understand what the program was.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In San Diego, Huebner unexpectedly got an up-close look at how identity verification issues continue to plague the EDD. After she filed for disability, it took six weeks to get her first check. But then she received a letter in the mail addressed to a woman with a different name and employer in Northern California that said her benefits had been discontinued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Huebner tried to call to figure out what was going on, she realized that her YouTube trick to get through on the phone no longer worked, throwing her back into benefit limbo while she recovered from a spinal procedure and waited to see if a new EDD debit card showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They won’t tell you anything,” Huebner said in late October. “Pain is one thing, but helplessness is totally different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s next for California unemployment reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before he was hired to fix the state’s pandemic problem child, EDDNext director Hughes was enjoying retirement on his Sierra foothills ranch dotted with cattle, horses and sheep. He put that on hold and went back to work at the EDD at the request of Farias, his former colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hughes is quick to note that he wasn’t there for the worst of the pandemic issues. He spends a lot of time talking with other state tech executives who can empathize, such as peers at the DMV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even from the outside, it wasn’t hard to see what went wrong at the EDD during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you roll out a solution, it needs to work. If it doesn’t work and they call the help desk, you need to answer the phone,” Hughes said. “We didn’t do either of those things very well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, his team launched a new online portal called “MyEDD,” which uses Salesforce technology for workers to file and track the status of their benefits. Some users \u003ca href=\"https://kmph.com/news/local/californias-edd-faces-backlash-over-problematic-new-website-users-unable-to-access-benefits\">reported crashes\u003c/a> during the first days of the rollout, but the system eventually stabilized. It will be built out over time, Hughes said, as the agency works through contracts for identity verification and a “claims navigator” to show workers all benefits they are eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new call center system using Amazon technology is slated to debut within the year. First for the state’s older disability system at the end of 2023, Hughes said, then for unemployment next summer. The idea is to ultimately go from the five or six systems that EDD agents currently juggle to one system for processing claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under the new system, there is a single pane of glass,” Hughes said. “As soon as they call in, all the information on their claim will come up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the EDD has tried to streamline its claims system, parts of which date back to the 1980s. Pahlka, in her book, compares making sense of the patchwork programs to going on an archaeological dig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966711\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1764px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png\" alt=\"A line chart showing Deloite's contracts with EDD.\" width=\"1764\" height=\"868\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM.png 1764w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-800x394.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-1020x502.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-160x79.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-07-at-3.43.47-PM-1536x756.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1764px) 100vw, 1764px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">EDD\u003c/a> \u003ccite>(Calmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the Great Recession, the state \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">paid Deloitte\u003c/a> to upgrade several facets of its operation, including part of its claim management systems, in a series of contracts that ballooned to more than $152 million from 2010 to 2018, copies provided to CalMatters show. That system was one of several that \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">state reports\u003c/a> later found buckled during COVID, but Deloitte was then awarded another $118 million as the state doled out emergency pandemic funds, according to the contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The irony, as Pahlka observed in her book, is that the money went to the very vendor “which built the ineffectual systems in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat from Orange County who sits on a U.S. House Oversight Committee that has investigated pandemic unemployment fraud, sighed heavily when asked about the past Deloitte “unemployment modernization” project — her response, she said, to both the contractor in question and the broader lack of oversight on big-budget projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Deloitte has an unfortunate track record of not getting it done here,” Porter said. “If we’re going to contract this and spend our dollars with a private company to do this, we have to hold them accountable for delivering.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Deloitte defended its work for the EDD, noting in a statement that “many technology constraints highlighted by California elected officials during the pandemic related to functions in EDD systems that Deloitte was not contracted to maintain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company declined to comment on whether it intends to bid on the new EDDNext project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hughes said that no vendor is off the table for EDDNext but that past contract performance will be considered for all bidders. This time around, Hughes said, the plan is structured to include more oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just way too much work for one vendor to do, and so we’ve split that up,” he said. “We’ve got different vendors doing different solutions. We can manage them much more effectively that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Familiar fights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another promise of EDDNext, Farias said, is that workers, advocates, and frontline staff will have more of a say in how the project is built. The agency has also created a new customer experience arm, which outside observers like Pahlka see as a promising development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gerry of the National Employment Law Project was among the worker advocates briefly shown a version of the new EDD online portal before it launched. It will require more sustained effort, she said, to ensure that people relying on the system end up with something easier to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard because, yes, we see certain incremental changes, but these systemic issues are still there,” Gerry said. “Unless there really is a big overhaul within the agency culture and the way they’re approaching this EDDNext project, we’re going to see these problems continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD maintains that more visible changes are coming, including a planned redesign of the agency’s 10 most-used forms to cut unnecessary questions, translate them into more languages, and make them easier to understand and access online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar efforts are also underway in many other states, where officials have raised questions about whether the federal government should do more to standardize applications, anti-fraud measures or other elements of the system. Robert Asaro-Angelo, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, recently told a U.S. House committee that states and territories that all currently have their own processes could use more guidance to bolster security while ensuring rightful benefits are paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We keep talking as if there’s one unemployment system. There’s 53 different systems,” Asaro-Angelo said. “These fraudsters being able to pick and choose — they couldn’t be happier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, concerns about the nuts and bolts of the state’s unemployment program are magnified by a more fundamental concern: the financial quicksand beneath the entire system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/779\">unemployment fund\u003c/a> that pays for benefits is operating in the red, or “structurally insolvent,” as the California Legislative Analyst’s Office put it in a July 2023 report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the state was making progress on paying down its $20 billion-plus pandemic unemployment loan from the federal government, \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/pdf/edduiforecastmay23.pdf\">state forecasts\u003c/a> now show the debt creeping back up, adding urgency to a fight over \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/10/unemployment-insurance-debt/\">whether to change California’s 1980s-era tax system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Business groups are already pushing Newsom to use other state money to pay down the debt despite California’s current budget deficit. The state has spent more than $680 million in recent years to pay interest on the federal loan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s vast unemployment insurance system has been under enormous strain since 2020, and employers are paying the price,” the \u003ca href=\"https://advocacy.calchamber.com/2023/08/28/study-shows-employers-paying-price-for-strain-on-unemployment-insurance-system/\">California Chamber of Commerce\u003c/a> argued in an August report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her vantage point at Sacramento’s Center for Workers’ Rights, labor lawyer Daniela Urban has watched cycles like this play out before. When the economy tanks, everyone — stressed-out workers, angry lawmakers, state watchdogs, the governor — wants to know what’s happening at the EDD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as people go back to work, the outside interest and funding wane: a collective failure to fix the system before the next time things go south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve just been laid off, how can you embark on finding a new job — especially if it’s been a while? How fast should you move, and where should you look?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">how to apply for unemployment benefits\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">how to save money\u003c/a>, how to find a new job — preferably one you’ll actually enjoy — is top of mind for many people after a layoff. But it’s not always easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, KQED spoke to \u003ca href=\"https://jobhuntbootcamp.com/\">Bay Area-based career coach Horst Govin\u003c/a>, who runs the job-hunting program Job Hunt Bootcamp, about the most effective, productive ways to find your next job, how to approach updating your résumé and the best methods for reaching out to other people about job opportunities — plus how to retain your peace during what can be an often-frustrating process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#resume\">\u003cstrong>How to tackle your résumé\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#networks\">\u003cstrong>How to activate your networks (without spamming people)\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#scrolling\">\u003cstrong>Why endlessly scrolling job listings probably won’t work\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Don’t take it personally\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If getting laid off has you truly freaked out, Govin says it’s important to know this is a completely natural reaction. “For a lot of people, and especially for people who it’s their first experience being laid off, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">the initial reaction is, ‘Oh, my God, what did I do wrong?\u003c/a> What’s wrong with me? How can I let this happen to myself?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As hard as it might initially feel, you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to let go of this feeling to be able to move forward effectively and find that next job, Govin said: “This has nothing to do with you. This is a decision that was made at a much higher level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As horrible as a layoff feels, “this is a routine matter in business,” stressed Govin. “It happens all the time, and it happens to a lot of people.” So blaming yourself, or thinking this means you were bad at your job, is just not accurate, he said: “Sometimes businesses grow too quickly. Sometimes businesses don’t plan appropriately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“And in many cases, the decision to lay off is made by somebody who made a mistake prior to the layoff and now is correcting that mistake with the layoff,” said Govin. “Or it’s the remains of a situation that’s out of anyone’s control — like the market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Realizing this doesn’t bring your job back, of course, or change the fact that other folks kept their jobs and you didn’t. But if you’re able to ground yourself, and truly understand that this wasn’t something you caused, “you can come back to where you are, from a place of security and confidence,” said Govin — and be in a much stronger position to make your next career move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949809\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949809\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Young businesswoman looks at a computer screen thoughtfully.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you can give yourself some time before starting the job search, reflect on where you’ve been and where you want to go next in your career. \u003ccite>(Luis Alvarez/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Pause — if you can — and take control of your search\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you lose your job, you may feel like you have to start looking for a new one immediately. But if you’re at all able to “just hit the pause button” at this moment, said Govin, you should — and use this as an opportunity to work out where you are, and “do whatever you need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, that might be taking some time to properly deal with the emotional fallout of losing a job. “If you’re having a hard time, take some time and try to reconcile what’s happened,” advised Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For others, this might be a time to consider the unexpected upsides of what’s happened — even if this situation wasn’t exactly of your own choosing.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Horst Govin, career coach\"]‘If you’ve always been dreaming about pursuing something, either a slight step up or slightly different, now’s the perfect time to do that.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some cases, a layoff can be a blessing in disguise,” said Govin. “I’ve worked with people who have told me that it was the best thing that could have happened to them, because they realized that they weren’t doing exactly what they wanted to — and this gave them the opportunity, and it gave them a reason to look for something better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you received a severance package, “consider this a gift,” said Govin. “You’ve got some time, and you can use that time to reflect on where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, and also to think about where you want to go next.” While Govin says this kind of reflection is important for everyone who’s been affected by a layoff, having received a severance package is going to make this even more possible — because of the extra financial flexibility this could offer you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately — even though “you’ve been forced to think about this now,” acknowledged Govin — this could be a moment to decide what next step feels right for you, and what you’d like to happen next in your career. Govin advises asking yourself: “What’s the trajectory that you’re on, and what’s the next best step for you? What makes sense?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’ve always been dreaming about pursuing something, either a slight step up or slightly different, now’s the perfect time to do that,” he added.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"resume\">\u003c/a>Don’t stress if your résumé isn’t recently updated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You’ve probably heard the career advice that it’s a good idea to always keep your résumé up to date — something that came up several times on \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/11rexqm/layoffs_what_do_you_wish_you_knew_what_advice_do/\">our Reddit thread about layoff advice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Govin says his personal “résumé philosophy” actually goes against this common advice, to an extent — and that you shouldn’t necessarily feel bad if you’re starting a job hunt with a résumé that’s gathered a little dust. For him, “the reality is, your résumé is going to look different every time you need it — so it’s actually not a bad thing to create your résumé from scratch when you need it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Guides from KQED' tag='kqed-guides']After you’ve taken time to reflect on your next career move, making a fresh résumé — rather than refreshing an old one — will allow you to “design your résumé and target it towards what you want to do next,” advised Govin. “And it might not be what you’re doing now. It might be slightly different.” This way, he said, “you create it with where you are now, and where you want to go next, as the basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t to say that keeping your résumé fairly up to date is bad advice, Govin said, but you might find it even more helpful to see it more as keeping “a record of all the things that you’ve done in your career” as an ongoing list, not necessarily in the format of a résumé.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can just be a simple … bulleted list of all of your accomplishments that you can refer to, and remind yourself of all the things that you’ve accomplished,” he explained. This confidence-boosting approach will also send you into your job hunt with clear objectives, and make you feel like more of an active participant in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Decide whether you can afford to wait for the ‘perfect’ new job — or whether you need to start earning quickly\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not everyone can afford to take a break from working while they look for the right new full-time opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re in this position, and you need to start making money again right now, Govin recommended you work to find \u003cem>something\u003c/em> that lets you do that — “whether it’s a consulting job, contract work or freelance work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And don’t overthink it: “Find something to close the gap so that you can get income coming in, so you don’t have to worry,” said Govin. “It can be very detrimental in your job hunt if you are constantly worried about when you’re going to get your next job, when the money’s going to start coming back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay realistic in this situation: Your stop-gap earning opportunity “doesn’t have to be your final job, doesn’t have to be your dream job,” said Govin. It just has to be “something to close the gap, so that then you can focus on finding your full-time job without the stress that comes with being worried about the money.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">Read more about how to save money after a layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949833\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949833\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing construction gear stands in the street, near a work area, and talks to another man that is sitting inside a truck.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you’re reaching out to your friends and former colleagues to look for job opportunities, it may be best to contact people individually to explain what you’re looking for. \u003ccite>(Markus Bernhard/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"networks\">\u003c/a>Activate your networks (without spamming people)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is another piece of common job-hunting advice you might have heard before: Immediately let your friends and professional networks know you’re looking for a new job. But how can you do this in a way that actually works — and doesn’t put the people you know in an uncomfortable position?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, says Govin, don’t reach out to anyone until you’ve done that internal work of establishing what you want your next job to look like. Next, he recommended that instead of “blasting out a message on social media, whether it’s LinkedIn or elsewhere, saying, ‘Hey, I’m looking for a job,’” a more effective way might be to reach out to people individually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recommends that you lead with honesty and clarity in these messages — especially if this is the first time you’re reaching out to people in a while — and tell them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>You’re on the market for a new job, and are actively seeking new opportunities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What kind of opportunities you’re looking for.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>You’d love to hear back from them if they know of any opportunities that match.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Get in touch with as many people as you can one-on-one, says Govin — and remember that most of them will \u003cem>want\u003c/em> to be of assistance. “You likely have a lot of friends and former colleagues that are more than happy to help you, and keep an eye out and an ear out for opportunities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Speaking of networks: Form a support group\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you were part of a larger layoff, you just became one of many people going through the same situation. “Take advantage of that,” advised Govin. “Use them as support. Use them as part of your community, and help each other out as you’re going through the next step in your career.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is this kind of community key for potentially connecting you with new opportunities, but it can also offer you invaluable \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">emotional support and boost your morale\u003c/a> — proving you’re not alone in this. It can also be empowering to give back this kind of support to others in the same situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaning on a support group of people in the same boat will also relieve some of the pressure from within your personal life, says Govin. “There’s only so much that your family and your friends want to hear about your job hunt,” he said, “so find a group of people who really can relate and who are there to support you and guide you through the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949839\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949839\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Man with beard and glasses looks at his phone screen while sitting next to a desk.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Treat the job hunt like a marathon, not a sprint,’ said career coach Horst Govin, adding that it’s important to set time aside to do the things that fulfill you. \u003ccite>(10'000 Hours/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"scrolling\">\u003c/a>Endlessly scrolling job listings online isn’t good for you — or your search\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Govin says he advises his clients \u003cem>against\u003c/em> searching for jobs every single day. While new jobs get posted constantly, “it’s not productive to be spending all of your time poring through posted jobs on job boards or LinkedIn or other sites,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Govin advised that you “dedicate a lot of time once a week to do that.” He suggests Thursdays as a good day for this, in which you can set aside a few hours and review all the new postings that have come online since the previous Thursday. “That way,” he said, “you’re batching all that effort into one time a week,” and containing it to two or three hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Horst Govin, career coach\"]‘Treat the job hunt like a marathon, not a sprint … you really need to preserve your energy and your time.’[/pullquote]Not only can this approach be beneficial to your emotional health — rather than overwhelming you with endlessly scrolling job posts — but it also frees up the rest of your week to focus on other types of job search activities, said Govin. “Responding to job ads is only one way of looking for a job — and in many cases, it’s the least effective, because there are so many other applicants that you’re competing with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A more “diversified job search strategy” might also encompass “leveraging your network, reaching out to contacts, being very targeted and looking for very specific roles at companies that you’re interested in or working with people that you want to work with,” recommended Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Treat the job hunt like a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. “You really need to preserve your energy and your time.” Treating your job hunt like a job also means fully logging off once you’ve done your part for the day, and doing the things that fulfill you: spending time with loved ones, hobbies, exercise or spending time outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This period of job hunting is temporary, and has an end point: when you finally find your next opportunity. But until then, “you have to pace yourself. You have to take time out to do things that will nurture you,” said Govin, adding that you’ll want to “do whatever you can to just keep every other aspect of your life on a positive level.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">Read more tips for taking care of your mental health during a job search. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finally, keep perspective — the job market is ‘a numbers game’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You’re going to get frustrated with applying to jobs you never hear back about, said Govin, and that’s all part of the process. Like many people who have been laid off recently, you’re getting back out there — which means you’re now one of a lot of people on the job market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you’ve spent a long time polishing your résumé and crafting a killer application, the truth, said Govin, “is when you submit an application, you’re basically dropping an envelope in a black box. And sometimes that black box turns into a black hole — and it’s gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how do you keep moving forward when it feels like you’re not moving forward in your job search? Just like it’s important to realize that getting laid off wasn’t your fault, you need to also acknowledge that not hearing back from job applications “has nothing to do with you,” said Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Horst Govin, career coach\"]‘Keep playing the numbers game — until you find the opportunity where \u003cem>you\u003c/em> become the one who gets the job.’[/pullquote]“There might be 500 other people applying for the same job,” he said, meaning that the hiring manager on the other end has “an incredible, Herculean task” to sort through them all. “I wouldn’t want to be in that role, either, because how do you sort through that?” said Govin. “How do you find the one or two or three people who are perfect for that job?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always tell my clients: The job hunt is a numbers game,” he said. “For every job out there, if there are a hundred applicants, only one person is going to get the job. And 99 people are not going to get the job. And in most cases, you’re going to be one of the 99 people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So as tiring as it feels, he said, “you have to keep playing the numbers game — until you find the opportunity where \u003cem>you\u003c/em> become the one who gets the job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve just been laid off, how can you embark on finding a new job — especially if it’s been a while? How fast should you move, and where should you look?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">how to apply for unemployment benefits\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">how to save money\u003c/a>, how to find a new job — preferably one you’ll actually enjoy — is top of mind for many people after a layoff. But it’s not always easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, KQED spoke to \u003ca href=\"https://jobhuntbootcamp.com/\">Bay Area-based career coach Horst Govin\u003c/a>, who runs the job-hunting program Job Hunt Bootcamp, about the most effective, productive ways to find your next job, how to approach updating your résumé and the best methods for reaching out to other people about job opportunities — plus how to retain your peace during what can be an often-frustrating process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#resume\">\u003cstrong>How to tackle your résumé\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#networks\">\u003cstrong>How to activate your networks (without spamming people)\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#scrolling\">\u003cstrong>Why endlessly scrolling job listings probably won’t work\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Don’t take it personally\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If getting laid off has you truly freaked out, Govin says it’s important to know this is a completely natural reaction. “For a lot of people, and especially for people who it’s their first experience being laid off, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">the initial reaction is, ‘Oh, my God, what did I do wrong?\u003c/a> What’s wrong with me? How can I let this happen to myself?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As hard as it might initially feel, you \u003cem>have\u003c/em> to let go of this feeling to be able to move forward effectively and find that next job, Govin said: “This has nothing to do with you. This is a decision that was made at a much higher level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As horrible as a layoff feels, “this is a routine matter in business,” stressed Govin. “It happens all the time, and it happens to a lot of people.” So blaming yourself, or thinking this means you were bad at your job, is just not accurate, he said: “Sometimes businesses grow too quickly. Sometimes businesses don’t plan appropriately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“And in many cases, the decision to lay off is made by somebody who made a mistake prior to the layoff and now is correcting that mistake with the layoff,” said Govin. “Or it’s the remains of a situation that’s out of anyone’s control — like the market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Realizing this doesn’t bring your job back, of course, or change the fact that other folks kept their jobs and you didn’t. But if you’re able to ground yourself, and truly understand that this wasn’t something you caused, “you can come back to where you are, from a place of security and confidence,” said Govin — and be in a much stronger position to make your next career move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949809\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949809\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Young businesswoman looks at a computer screen thoughtfully.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-867421140-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you can give yourself some time before starting the job search, reflect on where you’ve been and where you want to go next in your career. \u003ccite>(Luis Alvarez/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Pause — if you can — and take control of your search\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you lose your job, you may feel like you have to start looking for a new one immediately. But if you’re at all able to “just hit the pause button” at this moment, said Govin, you should — and use this as an opportunity to work out where you are, and “do whatever you need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, that might be taking some time to properly deal with the emotional fallout of losing a job. “If you’re having a hard time, take some time and try to reconcile what’s happened,” advised Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For others, this might be a time to consider the unexpected upsides of what’s happened — even if this situation wasn’t exactly of your own choosing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some cases, a layoff can be a blessing in disguise,” said Govin. “I’ve worked with people who have told me that it was the best thing that could have happened to them, because they realized that they weren’t doing exactly what they wanted to — and this gave them the opportunity, and it gave them a reason to look for something better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you received a severance package, “consider this a gift,” said Govin. “You’ve got some time, and you can use that time to reflect on where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, and also to think about where you want to go next.” While Govin says this kind of reflection is important for everyone who’s been affected by a layoff, having received a severance package is going to make this even more possible — because of the extra financial flexibility this could offer you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately — even though “you’ve been forced to think about this now,” acknowledged Govin — this could be a moment to decide what next step feels right for you, and what you’d like to happen next in your career. Govin advises asking yourself: “What’s the trajectory that you’re on, and what’s the next best step for you? What makes sense?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’ve always been dreaming about pursuing something, either a slight step up or slightly different, now’s the perfect time to do that,” he added.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"resume\">\u003c/a>Don’t stress if your résumé isn’t recently updated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You’ve probably heard the career advice that it’s a good idea to always keep your résumé up to date — something that came up several times on \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/11rexqm/layoffs_what_do_you_wish_you_knew_what_advice_do/\">our Reddit thread about layoff advice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Govin says his personal “résumé philosophy” actually goes against this common advice, to an extent — and that you shouldn’t necessarily feel bad if you’re starting a job hunt with a résumé that’s gathered a little dust. For him, “the reality is, your résumé is going to look different every time you need it — so it’s actually not a bad thing to create your résumé from scratch when you need it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After you’ve taken time to reflect on your next career move, making a fresh résumé — rather than refreshing an old one — will allow you to “design your résumé and target it towards what you want to do next,” advised Govin. “And it might not be what you’re doing now. It might be slightly different.” This way, he said, “you create it with where you are now, and where you want to go next, as the basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t to say that keeping your résumé fairly up to date is bad advice, Govin said, but you might find it even more helpful to see it more as keeping “a record of all the things that you’ve done in your career” as an ongoing list, not necessarily in the format of a résumé.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can just be a simple … bulleted list of all of your accomplishments that you can refer to, and remind yourself of all the things that you’ve accomplished,” he explained. This confidence-boosting approach will also send you into your job hunt with clear objectives, and make you feel like more of an active participant in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Decide whether you can afford to wait for the ‘perfect’ new job — or whether you need to start earning quickly\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not everyone can afford to take a break from working while they look for the right new full-time opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re in this position, and you need to start making money again right now, Govin recommended you work to find \u003cem>something\u003c/em> that lets you do that — “whether it’s a consulting job, contract work or freelance work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And don’t overthink it: “Find something to close the gap so that you can get income coming in, so you don’t have to worry,” said Govin. “It can be very detrimental in your job hunt if you are constantly worried about when you’re going to get your next job, when the money’s going to start coming back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay realistic in this situation: Your stop-gap earning opportunity “doesn’t have to be your final job, doesn’t have to be your dream job,” said Govin. It just has to be “something to close the gap, so that then you can focus on finding your full-time job without the stress that comes with being worried about the money.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">Read more about how to save money after a layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949833\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949833\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing construction gear stands in the street, near a work area, and talks to another man that is sitting inside a truck.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-924872486-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you’re reaching out to your friends and former colleagues to look for job opportunities, it may be best to contact people individually to explain what you’re looking for. \u003ccite>(Markus Bernhard/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"networks\">\u003c/a>Activate your networks (without spamming people)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is another piece of common job-hunting advice you might have heard before: Immediately let your friends and professional networks know you’re looking for a new job. But how can you do this in a way that actually works — and doesn’t put the people you know in an uncomfortable position?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, says Govin, don’t reach out to anyone until you’ve done that internal work of establishing what you want your next job to look like. Next, he recommended that instead of “blasting out a message on social media, whether it’s LinkedIn or elsewhere, saying, ‘Hey, I’m looking for a job,’” a more effective way might be to reach out to people individually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recommends that you lead with honesty and clarity in these messages — especially if this is the first time you’re reaching out to people in a while — and tell them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>You’re on the market for a new job, and are actively seeking new opportunities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What kind of opportunities you’re looking for.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>You’d love to hear back from them if they know of any opportunities that match.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Get in touch with as many people as you can one-on-one, says Govin — and remember that most of them will \u003cem>want\u003c/em> to be of assistance. “You likely have a lot of friends and former colleagues that are more than happy to help you, and keep an eye out and an ear out for opportunities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Speaking of networks: Form a support group\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you were part of a larger layoff, you just became one of many people going through the same situation. “Take advantage of that,” advised Govin. “Use them as support. Use them as part of your community, and help each other out as you’re going through the next step in your career.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is this kind of community key for potentially connecting you with new opportunities, but it can also offer you invaluable \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">emotional support and boost your morale\u003c/a> — proving you’re not alone in this. It can also be empowering to give back this kind of support to others in the same situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaning on a support group of people in the same boat will also relieve some of the pressure from within your personal life, says Govin. “There’s only so much that your family and your friends want to hear about your job hunt,” he said, “so find a group of people who really can relate and who are there to support you and guide you through the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949839\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949839\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Man with beard and glasses looks at his phone screen while sitting next to a desk.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1084167994-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Treat the job hunt like a marathon, not a sprint,’ said career coach Horst Govin, adding that it’s important to set time aside to do the things that fulfill you. \u003ccite>(10'000 Hours/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"scrolling\">\u003c/a>Endlessly scrolling job listings online isn’t good for you — or your search\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Govin says he advises his clients \u003cem>against\u003c/em> searching for jobs every single day. While new jobs get posted constantly, “it’s not productive to be spending all of your time poring through posted jobs on job boards or LinkedIn or other sites,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Govin advised that you “dedicate a lot of time once a week to do that.” He suggests Thursdays as a good day for this, in which you can set aside a few hours and review all the new postings that have come online since the previous Thursday. “That way,” he said, “you’re batching all that effort into one time a week,” and containing it to two or three hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Not only can this approach be beneficial to your emotional health — rather than overwhelming you with endlessly scrolling job posts — but it also frees up the rest of your week to focus on other types of job search activities, said Govin. “Responding to job ads is only one way of looking for a job — and in many cases, it’s the least effective, because there are so many other applicants that you’re competing with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A more “diversified job search strategy” might also encompass “leveraging your network, reaching out to contacts, being very targeted and looking for very specific roles at companies that you’re interested in or working with people that you want to work with,” recommended Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Treat the job hunt like a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. “You really need to preserve your energy and your time.” Treating your job hunt like a job also means fully logging off once you’ve done your part for the day, and doing the things that fulfill you: spending time with loved ones, hobbies, exercise or spending time outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This period of job hunting is temporary, and has an end point: when you finally find your next opportunity. But until then, “you have to pace yourself. You have to take time out to do things that will nurture you,” said Govin, adding that you’ll want to “do whatever you can to just keep every other aspect of your life on a positive level.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">Read more tips for taking care of your mental health during a job search. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finally, keep perspective — the job market is ‘a numbers game’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You’re going to get frustrated with applying to jobs you never hear back about, said Govin, and that’s all part of the process. Like many people who have been laid off recently, you’re getting back out there — which means you’re now one of a lot of people on the job market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you’ve spent a long time polishing your résumé and crafting a killer application, the truth, said Govin, “is when you submit an application, you’re basically dropping an envelope in a black box. And sometimes that black box turns into a black hole — and it’s gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how do you keep moving forward when it feels like you’re not moving forward in your job search? Just like it’s important to realize that getting laid off wasn’t your fault, you need to also acknowledge that not hearing back from job applications “has nothing to do with you,” said Govin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There might be 500 other people applying for the same job,” he said, meaning that the hiring manager on the other end has “an incredible, Herculean task” to sort through them all. “I wouldn’t want to be in that role, either, because how do you sort through that?” said Govin. “How do you find the one or two or three people who are perfect for that job?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always tell my clients: The job hunt is a numbers game,” he said. “For every job out there, if there are a hundred applicants, only one person is going to get the job. And 99 people are not going to get the job. And in most cases, you’re going to be one of the 99 people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So as tiring as it feels, he said, “you have to keep playing the numbers game — until you find the opportunity where \u003cem>you\u003c/em> become the one who gets the job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a layoff, some of your friends or family members may start quizzing you about your “next moves” around job hunting. And in some cases, a person can use this next period as a chance to take a break — especially if they’ve been offered a severance package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many folks, the primary concern after a layoff is still around how to save money — as fast as possible — without a regular source of steady income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to \u003ca href=\"https://andreaworoch.com/\">money-saving expert Andrea Woroch\u003c/a> — whose personal finance advice for families has appeared on CNN and \u003cem>Good Morning America\u003c/em> and in \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Forbes\u003c/em> — about the various ways Bay Area residents can lower their household spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for the practical steps you can take immediately to cut your expenses after losing your job — including some you might not expect. The advice below might look like a lot — or feel especially overwhelming when you’re also trying to deal with other practical and emotional fallouts that come with losing a job. But remember: Hopefully this period will be a short one. Try tackling one tip or approach at a time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948899\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948899 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"White woman and African American man sit at kitchen counter working together with a pen, paper and laptop.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One recommendation from experts: If you can track where your money is going every month, you’ll be better able to identify the areas where you could start cutting back immediately. \u003ccite>(Lock Stock/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>1. Take stock of your spending\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people really don’t have a dialed-in budget” for their household spending, said Woroch. If that’s you, and you’ve been affected by a job loss, “the first step you really need to take is to assess your spending,” she advised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By figuring out where your money is going every month, you’ll be better able to identify the areas where you could start cutting back straightaway, says Woroch. To do this, grab your credit card and bank statements for the last few months, and make a list of the recurring purchases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For “fluctuating expenses, like food, entertainment and gas,” Woroch recommended you make an estimate of how much you’re spending on those things. (An effective way is to find the total you spent on a certain type of expense — for example, eating out — and then divide that by the number of times you did it in the month.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider using a free platform like Google Sheets to make a simple budget document that can add up your expenses. “This is going to give you a clear picture of where your money is going,” said Woroch. “And now, you can create an action plan to start cutting costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Work out where you can possibly lower your expenses\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To make the process of establishing a budget feel manageable, says Woroch, focus first on the nonessentials: Think expenses like entertainment (movie tickets, eating out) or clothing. By removing those — while you’re in this post-layoff situation — you’ll land on “more of a bare-bones budget, of just your essentials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>But once you have that reduced budget, says Woroch, you may still find areas within your slimmed-down budget where you can save. “I think a lot of people focus most on cutting out those discretionary purchases and maybe limiting the impulse shopping and the ‘for fun’ purchases,” said Woroch, “but even on the essentials there are things that you can do. So now that you have everything outlined, you want to start making your cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do this all at once, cautioned Woroch: “It’s not like you have to do it all in the same day.” If you’re finding yourself feeling deluged by this process, “maybe spread it out and try to tackle one category each day,” she said.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Zone in on your household bills — and subscriptions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“This is actually an area [for] a saving opportunity that a lot of people don’t think about,” said Woroch, “even on those essential bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zone in on those recurring bills, she says, and be on the lookout for services you just don’t need, or need right now. “Look [at] your cable plan,” she explained. “Maybe this is the time to get rid of those premium movie channels, get rid of extra DVR and cable boxes in the spare bedrooms and such.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though these savings might not seem huge, “maybe only $5 or $10 savings here and there,” Woroch said, they will all add up in your mission to cut costs during this post-layoff period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Money-Saving Guides from KQED' tag='kqed-guides']Your next opportunity: Looking at your subscription services. An efficient way to do this is to look over the last couple of months of your credit and/or debit card statements for the company names of your subscriptions. (If you pay for any subscriptions with a money transfer service like PayPal, don’t forget to look there, too.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identify any services you don’t need and cut them, says Woroch — there might be some stuff in there you didn’t even know you’d been automatically enrolled in, perhaps after a free trial ended. “Or maybe your kids signed up for something you didn’t know about, which has happened to me,” said Woroch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your cellphone plan is a potential source of cost-cutting opportunities too. “If you have unlimited data, chances are you really don’t need it,” said Woroch — especially when you can access Wi-Fi at home, or for free at places you’re in, like malls or the airport. You can also consider switching to an online-only, low-cost wireless provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A person's hand is shown unplugging an electric power cord from the wall.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some utility companies, including PG&E, offer rate plans that offer discounts for customers who reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. \u003ccite>(portostock/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. Lower your usage to lower your bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With energy bills, you’ll usually be paying for what you use — so finding ways to reduce your usage, even temporarily, can add up to savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch recommends getting into the habit of unplugging any gadgets you’re not using and only plugging them back in to use them. Doing this, she said, “can actually cut your bill by 10%.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Try to run any major household appliances outside peak hours, advised Woroch — “early in the morning, late at night.” PG&E offers Time-of-Use rate plans: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/rate-plans/rate-plan-options/time-of-use-base-plan/time-of-use-plan.page\">How much you pay is based on how much energy you use, and when you use it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another idea: If you have a washing machine in your home, only wash your clothing in cold water, for further savings on energy. If you have a dryer, consider switching to air-drying your clothes in a warm sunny spot indoors or outdoors. Try turning down your water heater, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Look at your insurance bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of people only shop around for auto insurance when they first buy a car, said Woroch, but you can get in the habit of what she calls “comparison shopping” even when that’s not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is, rates change — they’re up now more than ever,” said Woroch, “and you could be overpaying, missing out on a cheaper option at a different provider” by not comparing what you could get elsewhere. Woroch recommends investigating insurance comparison tools online (but remember, if you sign up for a free trial to access a comparison service, just make sure you cancel it before you’re charged).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch also notes that increasing your insurance deductible and bundling certain insurance services could also offer you savings on your plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also call your insurer, says Woroch, and negotiate for a lower plan by asking about:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Available discounts on autopay, or e-billing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Any new promotions on offer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Possible deals for being a loyal customer\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>By first obtaining a few speculative quotes from your insurer’s competitors, you’ll also gain information to use in the negotiation process. Yes, this might take a little time, but lowering your insurance bills will also save you money in the longer term, beyond this period after a layoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Turn to secondhand for purchases\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After a layoff, remember to limit your impulse purchases, says Woroch. But for the things you really do need, “you really want to get savvy about how you shop,” she advised. That means thinking outside regular retail, or the places you’d normally buy something, and:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Consider finding the item on an online resale site, like Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Look in a Buy Nothing group on Facebook for free items.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For household appliances like electronics, consider either holding off temporarily or looking at certified refurbished options if it’s a necessary purchase.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Look for coupons: There are sites that aggregate coupons that will usually require you to sign up first.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Young woman looking up in shopping aisle whilst holding her phone\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1920x1277.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some supermarkets will mark down prices for food products that are approaching their expiration dates, says savings expert Andrea Woroch. \u003ccite>(Smile/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>7. Find savings on food and groceries\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Imposing a temporary pause on all takeout — or at least limiting it — is one way to reduce your food costs quickly after a layoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the grocery store, at a time when food prices are higher because of inflation, one of the most effective ways to save is by limiting your impulse to over-buy, says Woroch. Even though buying in bulk may feel more cost-effective sometimes, “what’s going to happen is some of that food is going to end up in the trash — and every time you throw away any food, it’s like throwing your hard-earned dollars in the trash,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she advises that you plan out your meals for the week wherever possible, and “look for recipes that use overlapping ingredients — meaning they use the same ingredients so that nothing goes to waste,” Woroch said.[aside postID=\"news_11943420\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/GettyImages-1144627849-1020x680.jpg\"]“Once you have your meal plan set up, write out your shopping list, look to see what you already have at home in your fridge, freezer or pantry so you don’t double up,” she said. “And now you can figure out which grocery stores in your area have the best deals for the item on your list.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch also recommends what she calls “reverse meal planning” — that is, being vigilant at the store about which fresh foods are approaching their expiration dates. “A lot of stores will mark down meat, fish, poultry, even dairy that’s nearing its expiration date,” she said. And when you’ve acquired markdown food, you can then use a cooking app — or just do an online search — for recipes and meals that use those ingredients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Lastly, apply for the benefits you’re entitled to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Remember, if your household income has been greatly reduced by you losing your job, you may be entitled to certain government benefits during this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, if you’re having trouble buying food, \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcalfresh.org/\">see whether you qualify for CalFresh food benefits\u003c/a> (also known as SNAP or food stamps) to support your household. If you’re already using CalFresh, a reduction in your income might make you eligible for increased monthly benefits. If that’s your situation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">contact your local social services office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After losing your job, what are some ways you can start saving money? KQED spoke to experts to understand how folks can spend less while they look for their next job.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This guide is part of the KQED News series \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a layoff, some of your friends or family members may start quizzing you about your “next moves” around job hunting. And in some cases, a person can use this next period as a chance to take a break — especially if they’ve been offered a severance package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many folks, the primary concern after a layoff is still around how to save money — as fast as possible — without a regular source of steady income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to \u003ca href=\"https://andreaworoch.com/\">money-saving expert Andrea Woroch\u003c/a> — whose personal finance advice for families has appeared on CNN and \u003cem>Good Morning America\u003c/em> and in \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Forbes\u003c/em> — about the various ways Bay Area residents can lower their household spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for the practical steps you can take immediately to cut your expenses after losing your job — including some you might not expect. The advice below might look like a lot — or feel especially overwhelming when you’re also trying to deal with other practical and emotional fallouts that come with losing a job. But remember: Hopefully this period will be a short one. Try tackling one tip or approach at a time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948899\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11948899 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"White woman and African American man sit at kitchen counter working together with a pen, paper and laptop.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1391441687-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One recommendation from experts: If you can track where your money is going every month, you’ll be better able to identify the areas where you could start cutting back immediately. \u003ccite>(Lock Stock/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>1. Take stock of your spending\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people really don’t have a dialed-in budget” for their household spending, said Woroch. If that’s you, and you’ve been affected by a job loss, “the first step you really need to take is to assess your spending,” she advised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By figuring out where your money is going every month, you’ll be better able to identify the areas where you could start cutting back straightaway, says Woroch. To do this, grab your credit card and bank statements for the last few months, and make a list of the recurring purchases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For “fluctuating expenses, like food, entertainment and gas,” Woroch recommended you make an estimate of how much you’re spending on those things. (An effective way is to find the total you spent on a certain type of expense — for example, eating out — and then divide that by the number of times you did it in the month.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider using a free platform like Google Sheets to make a simple budget document that can add up your expenses. “This is going to give you a clear picture of where your money is going,” said Woroch. “And now, you can create an action plan to start cutting costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Work out where you can possibly lower your expenses\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To make the process of establishing a budget feel manageable, says Woroch, focus first on the nonessentials: Think expenses like entertainment (movie tickets, eating out) or clothing. By removing those — while you’re in this post-layoff situation — you’ll land on “more of a bare-bones budget, of just your essentials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Read more layoff advice in our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/what-to-do-after-a-layoff\">What to Do After a Layoff \u003c/a>series\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>But once you have that reduced budget, says Woroch, you may still find areas within your slimmed-down budget where you can save. “I think a lot of people focus most on cutting out those discretionary purchases and maybe limiting the impulse shopping and the ‘for fun’ purchases,” said Woroch, “but even on the essentials there are things that you can do. So now that you have everything outlined, you want to start making your cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do this all at once, cautioned Woroch: “It’s not like you have to do it all in the same day.” If you’re finding yourself feeling deluged by this process, “maybe spread it out and try to tackle one category each day,” she said.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Zone in on your household bills — and subscriptions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“This is actually an area [for] a saving opportunity that a lot of people don’t think about,” said Woroch, “even on those essential bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zone in on those recurring bills, she says, and be on the lookout for services you just don’t need, or need right now. “Look [at] your cable plan,” she explained. “Maybe this is the time to get rid of those premium movie channels, get rid of extra DVR and cable boxes in the spare bedrooms and such.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though these savings might not seem huge, “maybe only $5 or $10 savings here and there,” Woroch said, they will all add up in your mission to cut costs during this post-layoff period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Your next opportunity: Looking at your subscription services. An efficient way to do this is to look over the last couple of months of your credit and/or debit card statements for the company names of your subscriptions. (If you pay for any subscriptions with a money transfer service like PayPal, don’t forget to look there, too.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identify any services you don’t need and cut them, says Woroch — there might be some stuff in there you didn’t even know you’d been automatically enrolled in, perhaps after a free trial ended. “Or maybe your kids signed up for something you didn’t know about, which has happened to me,” said Woroch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Your cellphone plan is a potential source of cost-cutting opportunities too. “If you have unlimited data, chances are you really don’t need it,” said Woroch — especially when you can access Wi-Fi at home, or for free at places you’re in, like malls or the airport. You can also consider switching to an online-only, low-cost wireless provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A person's hand is shown unplugging an electric power cord from the wall.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1407860632-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some utility companies, including PG&E, offer rate plans that offer discounts for customers who reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. \u003ccite>(portostock/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. Lower your usage to lower your bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With energy bills, you’ll usually be paying for what you use — so finding ways to reduce your usage, even temporarily, can add up to savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch recommends getting into the habit of unplugging any gadgets you’re not using and only plugging them back in to use them. Doing this, she said, “can actually cut your bill by 10%.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Try to run any major household appliances outside peak hours, advised Woroch — “early in the morning, late at night.” PG&E offers Time-of-Use rate plans: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/rate-plans/rate-plan-options/time-of-use-base-plan/time-of-use-plan.page\">How much you pay is based on how much energy you use, and when you use it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another idea: If you have a washing machine in your home, only wash your clothing in cold water, for further savings on energy. If you have a dryer, consider switching to air-drying your clothes in a warm sunny spot indoors or outdoors. Try turning down your water heater, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Look at your insurance bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of people only shop around for auto insurance when they first buy a car, said Woroch, but you can get in the habit of what she calls “comparison shopping” even when that’s not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is, rates change — they’re up now more than ever,” said Woroch, “and you could be overpaying, missing out on a cheaper option at a different provider” by not comparing what you could get elsewhere. Woroch recommends investigating insurance comparison tools online (but remember, if you sign up for a free trial to access a comparison service, just make sure you cancel it before you’re charged).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch also notes that increasing your insurance deductible and bundling certain insurance services could also offer you savings on your plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also call your insurer, says Woroch, and negotiate for a lower plan by asking about:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Available discounts on autopay, or e-billing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Any new promotions on offer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Possible deals for being a loyal customer\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>By first obtaining a few speculative quotes from your insurer’s competitors, you’ll also gain information to use in the negotiation process. Yes, this might take a little time, but lowering your insurance bills will also save you money in the longer term, beyond this period after a layoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Turn to secondhand for purchases\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After a layoff, remember to limit your impulse purchases, says Woroch. But for the things you really do need, “you really want to get savvy about how you shop,” she advised. That means thinking outside regular retail, or the places you’d normally buy something, and:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Consider finding the item on an online resale site, like Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Look in a Buy Nothing group on Facebook for free items.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For household appliances like electronics, consider either holding off temporarily or looking at certified refurbished options if it’s a necessary purchase.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Look for coupons: There are sites that aggregate coupons that will usually require you to sign up first.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Young woman looking up in shopping aisle whilst holding her phone\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/GettyImages-1390327468-1920x1277.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some supermarkets will mark down prices for food products that are approaching their expiration dates, says savings expert Andrea Woroch. \u003ccite>(Smile/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>7. Find savings on food and groceries\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Imposing a temporary pause on all takeout — or at least limiting it — is one way to reduce your food costs quickly after a layoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the grocery store, at a time when food prices are higher because of inflation, one of the most effective ways to save is by limiting your impulse to over-buy, says Woroch. Even though buying in bulk may feel more cost-effective sometimes, “what’s going to happen is some of that food is going to end up in the trash — and every time you throw away any food, it’s like throwing your hard-earned dollars in the trash,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she advises that you plan out your meals for the week wherever possible, and “look for recipes that use overlapping ingredients — meaning they use the same ingredients so that nothing goes to waste,” Woroch said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Once you have your meal plan set up, write out your shopping list, look to see what you already have at home in your fridge, freezer or pantry so you don’t double up,” she said. “And now you can figure out which grocery stores in your area have the best deals for the item on your list.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woroch also recommends what she calls “reverse meal planning” — that is, being vigilant at the store about which fresh foods are approaching their expiration dates. “A lot of stores will mark down meat, fish, poultry, even dairy that’s nearing its expiration date,” she said. And when you’ve acquired markdown food, you can then use a cooking app — or just do an online search — for recipes and meals that use those ingredients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Lastly, apply for the benefits you’re entitled to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Remember, if your household income has been greatly reduced by you losing your job, you may be entitled to certain government benefits during this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, if you’re having trouble buying food, \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcalfresh.org/\">see whether you qualify for CalFresh food benefits\u003c/a> (also known as SNAP or food stamps) to support your household. If you’re already using CalFresh, a reduction in your income might make you eligible for increased monthly benefits. If that’s your situation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">contact your local social services office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure to read the rest of our KQED guides about other steps you can take after a layoff to better support yourself and those who depend on you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949801/layoffs-how-to-find-a-new-job-jobhunting-tips\">The Best Ways to Find a New Job, According to an Expert\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949674/layoffs-mental-health-lost-job-self-care\">How to Prioritize Your Mental Health After Losing Your Job, From Telling Family to Self-Care\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949192/layoffs-unemployment-benefits-health-insurance-calfresh\">From Unemployment Benefits to Health Insurance, the Steps to Take ASAP\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948895/layoffs-how-to-save-more-money-after-losing-your-job\">How to Save More Money After Losing Your Job\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Thousands of Californians Are Still Waiting for COVID Unemployment Funds",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Carole M., officer manager, Southern California\"]‘I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?”[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Stories on Health' tag='health']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jenna Gerry, staff attorney, National Employment Law Project\"]‘All people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Californians who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
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