Important Unemployment Benefits Certification Information from the Employment Development Department. Hi, my name is Eddy. I answer your questions about California unemployment benefits.
Welcome to today’s presentation. Let me get out of this screen and we will get started.
Every claimant that is currently collecting unemployment insurance benefits must complete a form called the Continued Claim certification, or as many people refer to it, the UI claim form. This one tells us if you’re meeting the eligibility requirements on a weekly basis and allows us to pay you if you are.
Here is a sample of what the certification form looks like.
It may look familiar to you, from when you had a complete it prior to receiving your benefits. As you can see, it has a total of six questions. We will break them down a little later.
What’s the big deal with this form?
Let me tell you, it’s very important and here is why. Your answers to these questions will determine whether you may be eligible to continue collecting benefits or not. Hence the name “Continued Claim” certification.
Let’s review the Continued Claim certification in more detail. As indicated before, there are total of six questions that need to be answered as well as a very important signature line at the bottom of the page.
Note, the signature is only required when the continued claim form is mailed in. Read each and every question carefully.
- It is important for you to answer all six questions shown in the Continued Claim certification.
- Missing a single one can lead to payment delay or even an eligibility determination interview.
- Your claim may also be delayed if you answer questions incorrectly.
- When certifying in UI Online, select the blue question mark icon after each question to review important help text.
Now, let’s address two questions which are causing confusion and many certifications to be flagged for our review process.
Question number one
Question number one asks, Were you too sick or injured to work? You should answer “No” to this question if you were physically able to work each workday or start a new job if one was offered to you. You should also answer “No” if you were diagnosed with COVID-19 and able to work. A “Yes” answer means that you were unable to work or had to delay starting work because of an illness or injury that was not related to covid 19. If you answer “Yes”, you must report the number of days you were to sick or injured to work this week.
You will not receive benefits for those days. If you answer “Yes” to question one, you may be scheduled for an eligibility interview to get more information, and this could delay your payment.
Qustion number two
Question number two asks, “Was there any reason (other than sickness or injury) that you could not have accepted full-time work each workday?” What does this mean? Times are different now.
We know that your employer my be closed, but this is not what they are asking. They are asking about YOU. You should answer “No” to this question if you were ready and willing to accept work in your field that matches your job skills and background. – even if your past employers now closed.
A “Yes” answer means that you could not immediately accept work for reasons other than the COVID-19 pandemic. If you answer “Yes” to question two, you may be scheduled for an eligibility interview to get more information, and this could delay your payment.
Let’s Recap! Remember to:
- Carefully read al the questions on you Continued Claim certification
- Be sure to answer every question accurately.
- Double check your responses, as any error could cause your benefit payments to be delayed while we manually clarify your answer.
- Answer “No” to question one if you were physically able to work each workday or start a new job, if offered.
- Answer “No” to question two if you were ready and willing to accept work even if employers are closed due to the pandemic.
By carefully reading the questions and answering them timely, you can help us, help you get paid. Thank you. For more information be sure to check out the website EDD.CA.GOV