Two Bay Area workers filed a class action lawsuit against the much-reviled California agency responsible for handling unemployment insurance.
The workers allege that the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD)—which also handles disability and parental leave payments—violated their rights when it retroactively concluded they did not qualify for benefits and only informed them through confusingly worded letters.
Their lawsuit could have implications for thousands of other workers who have had their benefits retroactively canceled or who may rely on EDD for unemployment in the future.
Renee Okamura formerly worked as a cashier in Alameda County. Kathryn Din worked at a hotel in San Francisco.
Both women say they were forced to leave their work during the pandemic—Okamura because she is at high risk for complications from Covid and Din because she was furloughed and later laid off. Both sought and received unemployment benefits.
But, two years later, EDD accused Okamura of making false statements or withholding information in her unemployment claim.
“I was really scared,” Okamura said in a statement provided by Legal Aid at Work. “I could not figure out what they thought I told them that was [a] false statement, and I could not figure out why they thought I should be disqualified.”
The agency said Din had been paid in error. She only found out when she received a collection notice; the previous notices had been mailed to her old address, the lawsuit states.
Both...
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