During the past year and a half, California residents have witnessed firsthand the failure of the state’s Employment Development Department. Not only has EDD failed the people needing its lifeline services, it also has failed to provide leadership and stability in a time of crisis and enabled fraud on a massive scale. EDD is a textbook example of government failure.
EDD Systemic Failure Timeline
Pre-COVID EDD Systemic Failures | ||
Date | Item | Source |
| 2013 |
|
May | EDD reduces phone call-in service to 8 a.m. to noon, citing a lack of federal funds. | |
August | EDD’s new upgraded computer system, installed by Deloitte Consulting, experiences a “glitch,” causing delayed payments between August and October. The delays spur a legislative hearing in the fall of 2013. | KCRA 3 |
| EDD wins a grant from the U.S Department of Labor for the installation and use of a fraud-protection software system from Pondera Systems. | KCRA 3 |
29 | Despite DOL grant, EDD experiences an increase in identity theft and fraudulent claims. | |
| 2016 |
|
Summer | EDD stops using the Pondera fraud-prevention system, citing that the $2 million annual cost was too much. | KCRA 3 |
Pandemic Related EDD Systematic Failures | ||
| 2020 |
|
March | EDD tells people who are not eligible for unemployment to apply anyway, then issues them award notices saying their benefit award was $0. Department does not answer the phones to respond to questions. | Rep Doc |
17 | EDD shuts down all offices due to the pandemic. Offices are closed, phones shut off. | Rep Doc |
19 | People are unable to file for unemployment online after the EDD website crashes. | |
EDD Failure Timeline from March 2020 thru September 2022 can be viewed here. Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to fix EDD and make government work for the people.
*Note: All non-hyperlinked ‘KCRA 3’ sources were derived from the KCRA 3 EDD Backlog timeline. All other data was derived from documents provided by the Senate Republican Office of Policy and Research. Sources provided by request.