by Dan
(SoCal Unemployment Benefits)
… I have been receiving unemployment payments. I believe that I am on my second extension. So other than being without a job, I’m doing okay. My question concerns some documents that I’ve received this week.
The first group arrived a couple of days ago from the EDD office in San Diego. It is a “NOTICE OF DETERMINATION OF INVALID CLAIM, SECTION 1277.” It states the reasons why my claim is invalid under Section 1277. It also informs me that this determination does not affect my claim for extended benefits. This came with an appeal form as well.
I also received a Continued Claim form that same day even though I already possessed my current one.
Also that day, I received a “NOTICE OF REQUIREMENT TO REGISTER FOR WORK.” I had done that a year ago when I originally applied for unemployment so I updated my info.
Today I received a “NOTICE OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CLAIM FILED” and a “NOTICE OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AWARD.” These came in a packet with an unemployment guide from the Sacramento Adjudication Center. The same intro pack that I got a year ago.
I’m curious why I received all of this. It looks like I had applied again and failed to qualify. Since I am already receiving benefits, I had no reason to do so. Is this something that happened automatically since my original claim became a year old?
It doesn’t look like it will have any bearing on my current payments but since the EDD is a nightmare to get a hold of, I thought I would seek some wisdom from this blog. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving.
Hi Dan,
First, extensions confuse me as much as the next person .. and as I keep trying to tell everyone .. it’s because the length of time we’ve had emergency unemployment benefits is unprecedented and every time congress reauthorizes EUC’s .. it always seems to change the rules as well.
My particular problem is that I have no personal working experience with the ongoing changes.
However, out of all that good information you provided there was one thing that made my ears perk.
You said you’ve been unemployed for one year. There is always a new claim filed (automatically by the state, I believe) when one claim ends. Pretty sure I read this in the CA statutes.
A new claim must be established at the BYE date of a claim for you to keep collecting extensions and so they can check wage records to see if you can be reverted back to regular benefits and let’s not forget separation facts about any new employment .. which can lead to new non-monetary determs that stop receipt of benefits.
I suspect your claim for regular benefits is what they are trying to tell you is invalid. Probably, because you didn’t have sufficient subsequent work or wages in the new base period to establish a new claim per the 2nd benefit year monetary filing requirements. (lower than a first year claim.)
There is always a new BP attached to a new claim claim year and they would much rather pay “regular unemployment benefits” because it’s usually a lower weekly benefit amount based on part-time work or the new wage standards this recession has wrought.
Regular benefits are also based upon wages earned and would be charged to an employer’s SUTA (state unemployment tax account) instead of coming from the federal government.
The rest of the stuff they are telling you do is because it is S.O.P. for any new claim.
My guess is that it’s probably too expensive or a big waste of time to have special EUC publications for exhaustees of regular benefits which are considered the long term unemployed .. because the rules keep changing every year when EUC are reauthorized.
Follow through anyway Dan. You should at least try to comply with everything they are telling you to do .. so you don’t trip later on, over anything that might feel like redundancy now.
And be certain you document everything you do with the date and time .. notes made can always be used at unemployment appeals if something comes up in a post determination affecting the new claim.
And, you would probably feel better getting answers from the EDD .. I suggest talking to three different people .. as I have had reports that even the unemployment departments of this country don’t provide consistent answers ..
Hmmm, maybe they’re confused too about how extensions work ..
Chris