The Employment Development Department (EDD) is required to listen to all counterclaims if they have information that’s evidence-driven. For whatever reason, your ex-employer may hold a grudge against you or is guilty of wrongdoing that you found-out. They may opt to burden you further by claiming your reason for quitting was due to misconduct.

Some companies will try to avoid paying for unlawful termination lawsuits and even their unemployment insurance to cut corners further. Their strategy may include targeting selected employees for harassment and bullying to drive them to quit. This, unfortunately, can happen to many seasonal and short-term workers.

Three months is the shortest period that you can claim unemployment compensation. These employers will not want to pay for their additional unemployment insurance and find sneaky ways to prevent you from collecting on that insurance benefit. If you quit your job voluntarily, this will not allow you to get benefits from the EDD. Especially if there’s no claim on your behalf, such as documented violence or harassment, that led to you suddenly quitting. Yet if you did quit and were being forced to leave there are steps you can follow to reverse the unemployment claim.

What can you do?

Being denied the ability to claim unemployment makes it difficult to cover basic living expenses. This also can prevent you from using these benefits to look for another job effectively. In the event you feel that your ex-employer is blackballing you, you’ll need to follow these tips:

• Get as many witness statements from those who are willing to tell what happened.

• Gather as much evidence or proof of your claims (mobile phone recordings, pictures, etc.)

• Bring all of these items with you to your EDD hearing

• If you do not win the final verdict, you have the right to appeal your case by a specific time

Unemployment benefit extensions

Luckily in the end, if you do win the appeal and are granted unemployment benefits, there’s added benefit extensions. An additional 20 weeks can be added to your claim if they fall into selected categories.

• If you accept work that pays lower than the amount you were being paid previously

• Accepting work tasks that differ from your skill-set with lower expected pay

• Going to all scheduled EDD re-employment service interviews

Disaster Unemployment Assistance

If your work was affected by a natural disaster, you can claim Disaster Unemployment assistance. The affected area needs to be further listed as such, by FEMA and by the US President. For this claim, you are eligible to collect up to 26 weeks from the date your disaster area was declared.

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Many people who are unemployed may collect unemployment funds in California State. However, not all of them are eligible for the employment benefits. The California’s Employment Development Department has set eligibility requirements for the benefits. To qualify, you must have attained the earnings of a set amount in a specified period and unemployed because of circumstances beyond your control. Moreover, you must be willing to work and actively seeking for a new job.

Unemployment benefits eligibility in California

To qualify for the benefits, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) will use the following criteria:

#1. Past earnings

The EDD will assess your recent earnings before filing for the employment. Your earnings will be evaluated based on a period of 1 year, which comprise of four calendar quarters before the filling of unemployment. In a base period of 1 year, you should have the earnings of not less than $1,300 in highest paid quarter. Alternatively, you must have got the earnings not less than $900 in the highest-paid quarter not less 1.25 times the earnings in the highest-paid quarter in the whole base period.

#2. Reasons for unemployment

In most cases, the people who apply for unemployment funds have been permanently or temporarily laid off by the employer. The employee who was laid off due to company’s downsizing process is eligible for the unemployment benefits. On the other hand, the Department may approve those employees who were fired because they were not competent in the job. However, the employees who were fired due to professional misconduct or breach of contract are not eligible for the unemployment benefits.

Also, an employee who quit the job because of unsafe conditions may collect the benefits. To remain eligible, you must have tried to resolve the issue with the employer and allow time for the problem to be fixed. Moreover, employees who quit the job for health or family reasons are eligible for the unemployment benefits.

#3. Willingness to work

People who apply for the unemployment funds in California must be willing to work and actively seeking for a new job. In this case, you must show the proof that you have been searching for a job. The EDD will ask you to give the information about the companies you have contacted recently as well as their feedback.

Conclusion

If you are unemployed and live in California, you should consider applying for the unemployment benefits. The California’s Employment Development Department has set the eligibility requirements for people who wish to collect the benefits.

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