Unemployment Benefit Tips

Tips To Collect Unemployment Benefits

EDD and School

by Staci

(San Diego)

I just got off the phone with the EDD interviewer “Paul”. I, like most others here, became unemployed and registered for school about 5 months after looking, looking and looking for a job.

I didn’t research before-hand and had my benefits suspended pending the phone interview. When Paul called, he asked my usual occupation, what the hours were, and if I was offered a full time job would I accept it and drop school? I told him like a hot rock! He never asked me if I was getting funds, loans, grants or otherwise. We spoke for about 10 minutes, he asked why I had enrolled into school, I told him to advance my skills and to ward off cabin fever.

Paul told me because of my willingness to drop school and accept a job, I was still eligible for UI Benifits, he’ll send my check out today along with my claim forms for the other weeks.

Turned out WAY better than I thought it was going to!!!

I think your answer .. “Like a hot rock” should be the answer for everyone in California that is going to school and in a lot of other states as well.

Where might this be implied to be the correct answer?

In the current years Nonmonetary Eligibility Chartbook, in the table labeled “treatment of students”

Thanks Staci, for doing things the right way and not having to ask a question .. about how to undo a mistake that can’t be undone when you try to avoid the interview .. which is when I start worrying that checking on grants and government loans for school a person has accepted .. might be used to prove a misrepresentation issue for the way the questions were answered on the continuing claim form.

Comments for EDD and School
Feb 10, 2011 “Usual occupation”

by: Worried


I think “usual occupation” also is important here.

I work administrative jobs and three years ago, was turned down for school because the interviewer said there is plenty of employment opportunities for this work and this was in the midst of the recession. (I live in Southern California and as I was temping, the work was already beginning to slow down. Still is slow). I also said I was advancing my skills.

Chris, what part does “usual occupation” have in an EDD interviewer’s determination of eligibility? Particularly when the person receiving benefits has chosen the training and the school and not EDD or the state?

Also, is it possible to find out what is Staci’s usual occupation?

Thank you.

Your usual occupation needs to be known to determine what is “suitable work” for you.

And how likely you are to find work soon in your field.

I think they fear .. that people who could find a job in their usual field and get off unemployment wouldn’t look .. or accept suitable work if offered .. and then the benefits .. would in essence, become a subsidy that enabled you to change careers.

It sounds like you were only denied funding for the school or training and I am not an expert on how that part of any states re-employment efforts work .. I just understand the reasons they use to stop payment of benefits associated with school and the confusion that seems to arise out of this.

But you’re going to force me to read at least this pdf about California Training Benefits and of course the eligibility criteria the pdf says is found in the California unemployment code.

I can only hope Staci opted to receive notifications, so she can tell us what her usual occupation is.

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet today .. unemployment is a ball and chain I’m glad to be rid of.

Chris
Jun 28, 2012 Attending school with EDD

by: May_California


I am from California and I got laid off last year from a private medical office where I have been working for 15 years. I am 37 years old and have been a medical assistant for 19 years. I have no college degree, however, when I was still working, I was attending a local community college to finish my GE and was hoping to one day attend a university. So, last year I got laid off during the summer (I wasn’t enrolled for the summer session because I found out I was accepted to my program at the university). I decided to apply for unemployment for the 2 months I had left for the summer before I started school. So, this meant, I wasn’t in school when I applied for EDD. When the school year finally started (which was my first semester at the university), I had to let EDD know that I was continuing my education. I read a lot of forums online regarding this and I also read every single page of the small prints EDD has online. So, I had an idea on what to say. So, here comes the hard part: convincing EDD that my school was “training” to advance myself in my career. Ultimately, I want to be a registered nurse, but I wanted to go to a university while I do it. When my phone interview finally arrived, I told them that my usual occupation works from 9am-5pm. They asked me a lot of questions: what university I was enrolled in, how many units I was registered for, how much I receive for financial aid, when my target graduation time is and my living situation (I live alone). I pretty much told them the TRUTH. Then came the most important question: will I be willing to leave school if I was offered a full time job? I told them YES, because honestly, I couldn’t live off of what financial aid gave me. So, she asked me if I looked for a job, and I said YES, because I had the whole summer to look for one! Again, I told the TRUTH. So, then she just asked for a bunch of phone numbers from the school and told me that she will approve me for the California Training Benefits, which will allow me to collect unemployment for a year and a half then I could apply for another extension if I haven’t finished my program by that time. As long as I am a full time student, I get unemployment!
There was a lot of people that told me that I shouldn’t tell EDD that I was in school, but I hate lying. I wanted to do this the right way, so I don’t have to keep lying every time. Besides, if you lie, there are bigger consequences!
I got into EDD thinking that they will terminate my benefits once I had started school. But I wanted to at least try. I was pretty sure they weren’t going to approve me, so I was tremendously surprised that they approved me. Telling the truth doesn’t hurt, right? Good luck to all!

Jun 30, 2012 Occupation

by: Staci


I worked as a dispatcher prior to this loooooong bout of unemployment. I dont think that my occupation had anything to do with continuing to collect UI while going to school though. All that mattered was if I was available to accept work during my “usual” work hours, and since those hours were 7 – 3 and 3 – 11 combined weekly and my school hours were 8 – 2 two days a week and 6 – 9, 2 other days a week, my “usual” work hours were available. I have had this same type of interview three times now and have consistantly given the same information at all three interviews. EDD has always told me that everything was fine and continued my UI benefits.

Hope that helps! 🙂