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Excerpted from Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s unemployment agency is not answering 60% of the calls it receives for help as the overwhelmed department struggles to work through a backlog of more than 1 million pending claims five months into the pandemic.

Employment Development Department Director Sharon Hilliard told a panel of frustrated state lawmakers on Monday that the agency is on pace to have 3,700 people working in its call center by January, up from the 350 employees prior to the pandemic.

Excerpted by Daily Pilot

By Sara Cardine

For the past 50 years, community health center Share Our Selves has made strides to serve as many vulnerable and low-income people as possible, offering medical, dental and social services throughout Orange County with a main office in Costa Mesa.

Excerpted from OC Breeze

Sixty-one California lawmakers sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom advocating for immediate and structural reforms at the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD). Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, EDD has displayed a shocking inability to disperse unemployment benefits as millions of Californians struggle without income. (Full Letter Attached)

Excerpted from Associated Press

By Kathleen Ronayne

The agency is working to merge the call centers and train more workers to handle complex calls to eliminate the need for call backs, Hilliard said. But she could not give a timeline for when that would happen despite repeated questions from Democratic Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris. Other lawmakers said it was unacceptable that so few workers are able to answer questions about claims over the phone.

Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle

By Chronicle Editorial Board

Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle

By Carolyn Said