California delayed or improperly denied unemployment benefits for millions of people during the pandemic because policies 'do not prioritize getting benefits to workers quickly.'
SACRAMENTO — California delayed or improperly denied unemployment benefits for roughly 6 million people during the pandemic because state policies"do not prioritize getting benefits to workers quickly," according to a nonpartisan report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst's Office.
The report blamed these failures on the basic design of California's unemployment program, which it said is geared more toward the businesses that fund the program than the workers who benefit from it. Of the 3.4 million workers who had benefits denied during the pandemic, most of them were for not providing necessary documents on time — rules aimed at preventing fraud. But during that time, the report said the Employment Development Department had no system to process unopened mail and answered less than 1% of its phone calls because of overwhelming demand.
The Employment Development Department said it will"carefully review the LAO's ideas," adding that it has already adopted many of its recommendations. Earlier this year, the state Legislature gave the department $136 million for improved call centers, simplifying forms and notices, coming up with new tools to better reveal fraud and upgrading training for workers to get payments approved faster.
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