Re: Employment Development Department

Dear Governor Newsom,

We at All Saints Church in Pasadena are committed to Courageous Justice as a core value, of which economic justice is a key pillar.  

As a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of California received an unprecedented surge in the number of unemployment claims, such that maintaining high standards of service would be difficult with even the best of preparedness and management.  Unfortunately, California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) was neither sufficiently prepared nor effectively managed.

While we recognize the significant efforts undertaken these past ten months to bolster the agency’s ability to process this high number of claims, including expanding call center capacity both through additional personnel and additional hours of operation, inefficient processes and systems led to unreasonably long delays for many in receiving desperately needed benefit assistance.  As of this writing, the backlog of delayed claims was 941,000.

Additionally, the lack of controls to prevent processing of fraudulent claims is estimated to cost the state nearly the same amount as the State’s reserves at the beginning of the pandemic.  In response to the widespread fraud, the state contracted with ID.me to enhance identity verification, suspending many valid claims due to suspected fraud.  While the enhanced identity verification is a move in the right direction, ID.me has been woefully unable to handle the incoming volume of claims identified as potentially fraudulent, with hold times generally exceeding 8 hours.  During this period of identity verification, continuing benefits are suspended with no clear guidance as to when they will resume.

These delays are preventing unemployed Californians from receiving funds urgently needed to pay for essentials in a pandemic situation where finding alternative employment is not a viable option due to forced closures of many businesses.

EDD director Rita Saenz, in response to an audit conducted by State Auditor Elaine Howle, has said that the agency has not had adequate resources to address these issues, and that “the government needs to make investments… in infrastructure, technology, funding, and staff training… [to] prioritize ensuring access to the most vulnerable.”

We urge you to direct whatever resources are necessary to allow Rita Saenz and the EDD to transform itself into an agency that is responsive to all residents who call upon it for assistance in times of need, an agency that is a source of relief rather than a source of additional stress and anxiety, an agency for which Californians can be proud.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, you have said “we are all in this together.”  By urgently directing resources to and demanding accountability from EDD, you can help make this statement look a little more like reality.

Sincerely,
The Parishioners and Staff of All Saints Church, Pasadena CA