Wages are only up because the bottom half of workers lost their jobs
If one looks at the data for American wages in 2020, which shows that they grew historically fast, this fact may seem to be cause for celebration. But a closer look at the data paints yet another picture of stark inequality and of the "K-shaped recovery."
California unemployment benefits system back online, accountability demanded
Intermittent outages over several days caused many unemployed Californians to be unable to access their online accounts or certify their claims.
California's unemployment system flaws leave thousands in limbo
Record unemployment in California during the coronavirus pandemic exposed flaws, failures, and exacerbated fraud of the state's Employment Development Department.
2 postal workers arrested for defrauding California EDD
Two U.S. Postal Service employees were arrested Wednesday on charges that they abused their positions to obtain unemployment benefits through false claims of pandemic-related job losses.
California's EDD website experiences outage
California's Employment Development Department appears to have recovered from a technical glitch on Tuesday that rendered parts of its website inoperable.
Incarcerated California woman, accomplice accused of stealing more than $100K in EDD benefits
Officials say the state has paid at least $11 billion in benefits to people whose identities it has been unable to verify, which they say is likely fraud. Of that, $810 million was tied to ineligible prisoners.
EDD employees quitting in droves, loses 14% of workforce since March
It appears that a growing number of beleaguered and disillusioned Employment Development Department workers are hanging up their headphones and walking away in droves.
California EDD recipients may see reduction in benefits
On Thursday, the department sent a letter that said nearly 110,000 jobless Californians could see their benefits reduced in the coming days.
Tax forms help to paint big picture of widespread unemployment fraud
Unemployment agencies across the country became lucrative targets for criminals when they were bombarded with claims last year as millions lost jobs due to coronavirus shutdowns.
Significant EDD reforms headed to California legislature
A flurry of EDD reform bills have been submitted to the California legislature to fix, once and for all, EDD's inability properly serve millions of unemployed Californians.
EDD faces tough questions at hearing as unemployment backlog grows
California's Employment Development Department was called on the legislative carpet as more claims come in and the once shrinking backlog of old claims grows again.
California auditor says EDD likely has paid out $10.4B in fraudulent claims so far
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the agency was slow to react to warnings of an increase in fraudulent claims, saying this inaction cost the state billions as criminals exposed weaknesses in the system.
Legislators demand answers from EDD, Bank of America over unemployment cases
An assembly subcommittee overseeing the Employment Development Department, got an earful when EDD went so far as to claim that its old backlog has been cleared up.
More than 800K California EDD claims paid out more than 21 days after filing: auditor
Auditor Elaine Howle told the governor that as a result, more than 800,000 people waited longer than 21 days—EDD's measure of how quickly it should process a claim—to receive their first benefit payments.
Criminal rings loot billions in California jobless funds
Criminal rings stole over $11 billion in unemployment benefits from California last year and nearly $20 billion more is considered suspicious.
Unemployment freeze traps valid claims in a red tape nightmare
Unemployed workers with legitimate claims have had their accounts frozen by the department, sometimes for months, as part of an anti-fraud crackdown.
California unemployment fraud could top $9.8 billion
California may have paid out nearly $10 billion in phony coronavirus unemployment claims — more than double the previous estimate — with some of that money going to organized crime in other countries.
EDD an easy target, fights to crack down on bogus claims
California’s Employment Development Department has been an easy target for fraud, but the agency keeps fighting to crack down on bogus claims.
Taxes on unemployment money coming due soon, surprising many
Many California jobseekers are confused about withholding taxes on their unemployment checks, and many more report that they simply can’t afford to put aside any money when they don’t have enough to begin with.