www.edd.ca.gov – California Unemployment Benefits Extension
If you are a Californian looking for information on unemployment benefits, you should go to the website www.edd.ca.gov. This is the official website of the Employment Development Department, which is a division of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency of the State of California.
The Employment Development Department is the largest tax collection agency in California. As such, it maintains the employment records of California residents, and also administers disability insurance and unemployment insurance. www.edd.ca.gov is therefore a must-see site if you are a California resident looking to claim unemployment insurance, or looking for information on unemployment benefits, such as the recently announced unemployment benefits extension by the federal government.
If you are applying for unemployment benefits for the first time, you can do so online at the site. There is a video which introduces the application process, available in both English and Spanish. Briefly, in order to qualify, you need to have lost your job involuntarily (that is, you were fired or was forced to resign, and did not resign voluntarily for personal reasons), and you need to be actively looking for work, or attending approved training. In addition to filing an initial claim online, the website also has instructions on how to file an initial claim by telephone, mail or fax. After you have filed your application, you should receive your claims materials within 10 days by mail. You and your previous employer may also be contacted for telephone interviews in order to establish the reasons for the loss of your previous job. All the information you need for your application is summarized in a tip sheet, available as a pdf from the website in four languages, English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.
Once you’ve been approved for unemployment benefits, you need to submit a Continued Claim every two weeks in order to continue to collect your checks (attached to each check is a Continued Claim form, which must be filled out in order for you to receive your next check). You can also choose to submit your Continued Claim form online at the Employment Development Department website www.edd.ca.gov, instead of mailing in the paper form that was mailed to you. Note however that the paper form will continue to be mailed to you, and you should fill in either the electronic form on the web or the paper form, but not both, as doing both will lead to administrative confusion and may delay your check.
Therefore, for all the paperwork and questions you have regarding applying for unemployment benefits in California, or about unemployment insurance extension, visit http://www.edd.ca.gov/.