Self-employed on Peninsula struggle to file for unemployment benefits

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (KION) It has been an ongoing battle for many Californians who are now unemployed and desperate to get an answer on pending benefits.

"I've counted 1,600 times that I've called since March. We're having to sit with no benefits, not knowing when we will get them or if we will actually get them," said Carmel-by-the-Sea Cosmetologist, Joette Catanzaro.

Catanzaro is self-employed. She said she shut the doors to her salon on March 14, filed for unemployment benefits four days laters and still has yet to hear back on the status of her claim.

"They were going to respond to me as soon as they got it. I haven't heard anything. I'm sitting in limbo basically," said Catanzaro.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) reported a giant surge in unemployment claims since March. In the first week of April, 925,450 claims were processed. This is a 2,418% increase from the same week in 2019.

"Staff are working overtime. We're redirecting hundreds of staff to help us with unemployment. That includes those with experience throughout the department, throughout state government and even recent retirees," said Employment Development Department Deputy Director, Loree Levy.

KION spoke with the EDD a few weeks ago. Levy said it generally takes a minimum of three weeks for a claim to be processed.

The state has hired over 1,000 additional workers to keep up with demand, but encourage everyone to stay patient in the mean time.

"The ones that will always take a little longer are the ones where their information does not match the wage records we have or we cannot verify their identity," said Levy.

Levy said the best way to follow up on the status of your claim is to visit, www.edd.ca.gov.