State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

California EDD Halts New Claims to Shore Up Vulnerabilities

Government Technology: California’s Employment Development Department has stopped taking new applications for unemployment benefits until Oct. 5 while it “resets” itself to “help prevent backlog growth,” it said in a news release issued late Saturday.

The announcement was issued along with a 109-page report from a strike team appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 29 to “modernize information technology programs and transform the customer experience” at the EDD, which has been unable to keep up with the crush of claims brought on by the pandemic. In addition to a huge backlog of initial claims that still need processing, the strike team estimated in its report that “no more than 1 in 1,000 people” who are trying to reach the sole call center able to help customers are getting through.

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