A Well Oiled Machine? Unemployment Check Madness

I understand there will be some breakdowns with any system. But this is silly. Why do we pays these people to get this so wrong.

Californians not getting their Unemployment checks

Floridians can’t stop the checks from coming

In both cases, no ability to talk to anyone about resolving these issues. No one is answering emails and no humans on the phone.

In California even though they added more workers, people still can’t get any help for anyone to resolve the issue.

California Governor Gavin Newsom say our team is “working overtime to make sure the system holds up and doesn’t collapse”
Doesn’t collapse? Are you serious. I hope they like getting all that overtime pay.

In the case of Floridians still receiving payments, the senator says to expect the checks to keep coming and don’t worry, you wont be prosecuted for keeping the money.

So..... your saying I can keep this money and not feel guilty about this when the people who are really unemployed need this money.

And we want to let these people make more of these efficient and effective systems?

And If the system is overwhelmed and ready to collapse what kind of systems will we have to look forward to?

The lady in the second video says it perfect, “their is no method to the madness”

Personal note: I’m in California and am one of the people not receiving payments.

It’s getting ridiculous folks.

a reply to: Observationalist

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it has something to do with having ten times the number of unemployed to service...

But I've been wrong before..

a reply to: Observationalist

Stimulus checks are a mess also - millions of Americans who were supposed to receive $1,200 (or less) didn't get jack sh*t including my partner who is an elementary school teacher making less than $40K per year in New England with high cost of living.

When we check the "status" on IRS it says nothing is found, no outstanding stimulus money is due and the website explicitly says you cannot contact the IRS with questions or issues. Meanwhile dead people are being sent checks and criminals are defrauding the government of taxpayer money and the POS legislators are just borrowing all of this money from our future without making one CENT of reduction in spending.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it has something to do with having ten times the number of unemployed to service...

The incompetency of our government is also a major factor at play, not just the number of claims coming in.

Government F's things like this up on a slow day just as badly

a reply to: FamCore

Well they are government employees...

a reply to: Observationalist

Yep. I totally hear you. I totally sympathize. Tons of stories. it's a mess.

Same here in Washington state, I got furloughed, took 5 weeks to get my first check, got a couple but now its 3 weeks behind again due to some identity scam the state is investigating, I'm scraping the credit cards to the bottom, ugh. not pretty. My work won't start up again until September.

an acquaintance of mine was furloughed in early April, then called back to the job late may, 6 weeks off, the Irony , she finally got her first check the week she started working again, (after she had run up her credit card bills) and now the remaining weeks are backlogged while they investigate her claim, it's a total mess. Each story I hear is unique but the common thread is long delays, and as you mentioned, no human contact, the automated system is confusing, contradictory, and sometimes forces an option that does not apply because the listed options don't fit your case, but....you can't talk to anyone.....the phone number you call actually TELLS you they cannot accept calls at this time, try again....

Many of us are going to be paying off our credit debt now with interest of course. Somebody got rich off all this.

not me, lol. Best wishes.

a reply to: Observationalist

I’m a former California State employee. I worked for one of the State’s tax agencies (there used to be three, for those who are not familiar). In fact, I actually worked for more than two decades in a “call center” similar to the one you have been unable to contact at the EDD.

Here’s some numbers to chew on “from the other side”:

Per the EDD, 2,350,000 claims were filed in April 2020.

When/were I worked, we were encouraged (read: coerced) to keep our call lengths to no more than 3 minutes per call. Our “on-line” time, workday minus breaks and lunch, was 7 hours per day.

Overtime had to be authorized, in some cases by the State Governor’s Office: after all, our wages were being paid out of tax revenue, so every penny had to be thoroughly justified.

If you do the math, that means that on an average day, I was expected to complete approximately 140 calls each day.

And if you divide 2.35 million claims by 140 calls it works out to around 16,800 days, or about 47 man-years.

47 Years! And that’s just the claims up to April.

And sure, the State could hire, train, and provide the technical and logistical support for more call center employees to ease the burden, but that takes time.

Remember, we’re talking about claims in APRIL 2020; less than two months ago.

And it take money. Lots of money to hire, process, train, acquire and outfit a functional call-center, and provide the other facilities required to support a large concentration of new employees.

And ALL that money is coming from tax dollars you and I end up paying.



OTH, my UI check has been dropping into my account on the regular, so I can’t complain.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Observationalist

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it has something to do with have ten times the number of unemployed to service...

But I've been wrong before..

I love condescending comments, thanks for setting me straight. I have nothing to rant about, yay, your so right I’ll just wait for them to get all caught up.

Yup, I’m well aware of the unprecedented nature of the situation. They were not caught off guard though. They knew what they were getting into, yet they thought they could handle it, and we assumed they would.

Now they are failing miserably and offer no apology or help to those who need it. They are so confused they can’t even figure how stop payment to some people without shutting down the system.

I understand it’s a lot for them to handle. If they knew this was going to happen, then why didn’t they get ahead on their communications and let us know what’s happening. As of now we have no response from anyone or anything, How about replying to a Friken email.

a reply to: Observationalist

Sorry if you took offense..

But my point still stands.
All these government offices are being overwhelming and add onto that the all the covid precautions being enforced and this is exactly where it leads.

It was impossible to prepare for what has hit them.

a reply to: Bhadhidar

I appreciate you sharing that perspective. I don’t envy those people having to work this out.

The thing that frustrates me is the governor can hire and train a brand new army of contact tracers, and ignore the needs and shortcomings of a UI system that he knew would be overwhelmed. It’s not fair to those who have to work and especially to those that are left in the dark about something that was promised.

The Governor overestimated their ability to handle what they knew was to be an unprecedented situation.

Can't wait for the CHAZ people to take over. I am sure that will make it all better.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Observationalist

Sorry if you took offense..

But my point still stands.
All these government offices are being overwhelming and add onto that the all the covid precautions being enforced and this is exactly where it leads.

It was impossible to prepare for what has hit them.

Yah, I’m a bit hot right now. Why I put this in Rants.
I’m fairly level headed dude. I can’t imagine how others with less level heads are handling this.

originally posted by: Lr103
a reply to: Observationalist

Yep. I totally hear you. I totally sympathize. Tons of stories. it's a mess.

Same here in Washington state, I got furloughed, took 5 weeks to get my first check, got a couple but now its 3 weeks behind again due to some identity scam the state is investigating, I'm scraping the credit cards to the bottom, ugh. not pretty. My work won't start up again until September.

an acquaintance of mine was furloughed in early April, then called back to the job late may, 6 weeks off, the Irony , she finally got her first check the week she started working again, (after she had run up her credit card bills) and now the remaining weeks are backlogged while they investigate her claim, it's a total mess. Each story I hear is unique but the common thread is long delays, and as you mentioned, no human contact, the automated system is confusing, contradictory, and sometimes forces an option that does not apply because the listed options don't fit your case, but....you can't talk to anyone.....the phone number you call actually TELLS you they cannot accept calls at this time, try again....

Many of us are going to be paying off our credit debt now with interest of course. Somebody got rich off all this.

not me, lol. Best wishes.

Thanks for understanding, it’s bizarre times, I would have been nice have a better plan in place. To hear our Governor say they are hoping the system won’t collapse is disheartening. If I’m SOL then I’m SOL. I’m still better off than most.

a reply to: Observationalist

Might have something to do with the fact that the EDD, and its employees are funded directly by the State, whereas, COVID19 contact tracers would likely draw from public health funds underwritten, at least in part, by federal funding.

It comes down to “Who Pays?”.

a reply to: Observationalist

Because 42,000,000, people slammed the 2,000 who were doing it all before

It was broke before this all went to hell to begin with