There is help for Californians facing unemployment. Here’s where to find it

With hundreds of thousands of Californians filing for unemployment, it can be a scary time to try and navigate the bureaucracy surrounding the state’s unemployment system. However, there is help to be had.

The Employment Development Department maintains a list of resources that people can receive while going through the unemployment process, including food benefits and Medi-Cal.

Groups like the Center for Workers’ Rights in Sacramento are helping people navigate the system.

Daniela Urban, executive director of the center, offered some advice to those people in need of assistance.

She recommends that anyone with an internet connection file their unemployment claim online through the department’s UI Online website. The department is receiving a high volume of claims and so the agency is recommending that people file online.

“If people have internet access, that’s the best way to start,” Urban said.

Urban said her center is available to help people with questions they might have about the unemployment process. The center maintains a helpline at 916-905-1625, and if you are in the Sacramento area it can also be reached by dialing 211. The helpline operates from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The center has waived eligibility requirements, and will work with people regardless of their immigration status.

Urban said there are similar organizations in other cities that can provide such services.

One thing that Urban said the center has been helping people with is clarifying their employment status. She said employers often send workers home without specifying whether they are being laid off or put on unpaid leave.

“They just kind of leave it up in the air,” Urban said.

She said that lack of clarity can make it difficult for people applying for unemployment benefits, which requires specificity on employment status.

Urban said the center also has been working with people who have trouble reporting back wages, such as low-income people who work multiple jobs or people in the gig economy.

“It makes it really difficult for them to come up with the amount of wages they’ve made over the last 18 months,” she said.

One tip that Urban offered is a reminder that unemployment benefits are determined weekly, backdated to the Sunday preceding the claim filing. So if you can’t get through right away, “take a deep breath, they have a whole week to get in touch with (the department),” she said.

Urban also recommended spreading out call times later in the day, as the department’s phone lines tend to get inundated early in the morning.

Urban recommended that people ask their employers to continue paying them, as the recent federal stimulus bill contains money employers might not know about that is intended to help small businesses pay their workers.

“A lot of small businesses under 500 (employees) are able to get assistance in paying wages now,” Urban said.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 2:27 PM with the headline "There is help for Californians facing unemployment. Here’s where to find it."