SAN DIEGO — More problems again on Monday for unemployed workers in California, who continue to have trouble getting claim money from the state Employment Development Department.
The EDD agency put out a tweet over the weekend saying workers may have to reverify their identity before benefits can resume.
It’s a double whammy for unemployed workers. First, there was massive fraud involving EDD debit cards. Now, a gap in federal unemployment benefits means identities need to be reverified.
Erin Corbus is an unemployed gig worker who already uploaded her identity records to EDD. She was verified and started receiving payments.
Then, over the weekend, Corbus received a notice that her claim was suspended.
“There has been no fraud. I’ve had no issues with my account. Thursday, I got notification that they got my identity documents. Three days later they suspended my claim,” Corbus said.
The EDD agency tweeted Sunday morning, “As part of ongoing efforts to fight fraud, EDD has suspended payment on claims considered high risk and is informing those affected that their identity will need to be verified starting this week before payments can resume.”
“We have had nonstop phone calls,” said State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who represents San Diego.
Gonzalez said she believes EDD is being overly cautious on verifying identities because of past fraud problems.
“We know that there was a ton of fraud. There were EDD checks being sent to prisons and one-year-old babies. We understand the need to have safeguards so that doesn't happen again. That was a $2 billion mistake there,” Gonzalez said.
On the other hand, “People's rent is due. People need to buy food. We're on lockdown again,” she said.
To speed up payment of claims, Gonzalez has introduced a bill that would allow EDD to use direct deposit for claims, eliminating the need for Bank of America debit cards.
“Some people may want that debit card. It works for some folks, especially people who don't have a regular bank account, but we know a majority of folks would probably prefer it to go directly into their bank account,” Gonzalez said.
EDD did not respond to an email from CBS News 8 seeking clarification of its tweet and claim suspensions.
To prevent EDD debit card fraud, you can set up automatic transfers from the Bank of America EDD debit account, into your personal bank account.