Unemployment Insurance

California’s unemployment insurance (UI) fund will end the year with a $20.2 billion deficit, the Employment Development Department (EDD) projected in its latest Unemployment Insurance Fund Forecast. While the projected deficit is an improvement from May’s forecast of a $24.3 billion deficit, it remains bad news for employers, who will be forced to pay higher employment taxes to repay federal loans that are being used to allow the state to continue providing benefits to unemployed Californians. California’s UI fund ended…

Days after exiting the recommended two-week “burndown” plan from Governor Gavin Newsom’s unemployment insurance strike team, the Employment Development Department (EDD) was met October 7 with a news conference at its front door and a legislative oversight hearing at which state lawmakers vented their frustration about the department’s mishandling of claims filed by out-of-work Californians. The governor’s strike team issued a September 16 report that described a backlog of claims so large that the agency was ordered to stop taking claims for two weeks…