Many Californians who lost jobs during the pandemic have been facing ongoing battles to receive unemployment benefits.
During the first few months of the COVID shutdown, the state Employment Development Department became inundated with 29 million jobless claims. Since then, it has paid out $188 billion in unemployment benefits.
But as CalMatters’ investigative reporter Lauren Hepler writes, many Californians are still struggling to receive their money.
When the pandemic hit, state and federal officials waived many standard application requirements for unemployment benefits. As the claims flooded in, the department estimated that it paid as much as $31 billion to scammers in its rush to distribute funds. (This fraud is one of the key reasons Republicans are campaigning against Julie Su, President Biden’s nominee for U.S. labor secretary, who oversaw the department’s operations at the time serving as state labor secretary.)
Investigators say organized identity theft rings, dodging the agency’s automated application systems, were responsible for most of the fraud. But department anxiety about illegitimate claims has ramped up — especially considering that California still owes the federal government $19 billion in unemployment debt.
Abbott Laboratories agreed to pay $385 million to settle U.S. allegations related to poor manufacturing practices at two facilities, including one involving an investigation of a contaminated faci...