Hundreds of thousands of California workers will be unable to recertify for unemployment for at least a month, including self-employed and gig-economy workers who were getting federal relief bill money.
Federal money for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, or PUA, ran out Dec. 26, 2020, but was immediately reinstated within days.
But the Employment Development Department said that because of a “programming infrastructure” problem, they can’t get people back into the system to certify their claims.
Claimants will have to wait until at least March before they can recertify to get those benefits, then likely wait at least three weeks to get any money.
Assemblymember Jim Patterson says EDD has known about the issue since January but waited until late Friday to tell legislators on a bi-weekly call.
So what’s keeping EDD from getting money to the massive amounts of people who need it the most? EDD officials said it was due to “programming infrastructure,” or their outdated computer system, which was unable to handle the brief interruption in December.
EDD told KCRA 3 that “all new programming had to be put in place to implement the new additional up to 11 weeks of benefits.”
