By Lauren Hepler | CalMatters
It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.
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.
Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who 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 benefit backlogs that ensnared some 5 million people at the state Employment Development Department, which officials have said was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.
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 many appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government nearly $19 billion in unemployment debt.
“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”
The EDD has paid out $188 billion 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 has acknowledged that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.
Along the way, state watchdogs say up to 1 million workers were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.
“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.”
The biggest logjam of contested unemployment…
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