How Long is Too Long to Hear EDD Claim Determination

[tomindavis]

State of California

Hi,

I had my EDD claim interview on Tuesday, April 13th. it felt as if everything went according to plan, and I didn't get any overt sense that I would be denied. Of course, that means nothing, since I m not a part of the claim determination process.
My issue is this: I assumed that I was not supposed to send in the initial claim form they had sent me until I had been approved. So, 6 business days later, Wed., April 21st, i sent in the completed claim form. It is now Saturday April 24th, and I have not received any mail approving or denying my claim.
Question #1: If they deny your benefits, they tell you by mail generally within 7 - 10 business days, correct?
Question #2: If they approve your claim, they send you your first payment, provided you have already sent in your claim form, correct?
Question #3: If they have yet to receive the initial claim form (see my above scenario), but have approved your claim, do they still inform you by mail to say that your claim has been approved? Or, do they silently approve it and await receipt of the claim form before issuing a check?

Basically, my hunch for why they haven't sent me anything is that I took a long time getting them the claim form, and I assume that, since 9 business days have passed, then if they were to deny me I would have most likely received a letter in the mail saying so.

thanks for any input about the actual process,

t.

[cbg]

At the present time, the state of California is broke. They have more claims than ever before; they have fewer employees to process them, and the ones they do have are subject to furlough and overtime restrictions.

I can't answer how long is too long; I can tell you that at the BEST of times (which this most certainly isn't) nine days is not even close to being too long.

As a point of comparison, in my state (which is not yours but they are not all that dissimilar), in a good economy (which this isn't), a perfectly clean claim which is presented perfectly the first time; of which there is no possible question of the employee qualifying and which is not being contested by the employer, it will still take a MINIMUM of ten BUSINESS days for processing. And one processed that quickly would be the exception rather than the rule.

[tomindavis]

Got it, thanks. I imagine that the lack of employees + funds, as well as whatever came of the phone call the EDD interviewer probably made to my former employer, could easily push things back. i will just expect, then, that things will take maybe 2 weeks or so, and re-evaluate then.
tx

[cbg]

I would expect closer to four-five weeks at minimum. Your expectations appear to be much too high.

FYI, for reasons not germane to this discussion, I have an open claim most of the time. My old claim expired on March 27 and I filed a new one on March 29. I received the paperwork approving my claim and giving me the amount of my new benefit over a week ago; my online record is not yet updated and I have not yet received a single penny of the new claim. My former full time employer is not protesting; my part time employer was been notified of my claim weeks ago and the state is well aware of my part time job, but that may be enough to slow things down. And my state is in better financial shape than yours.