My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: California
I have a couple of questions regarding winning an appeal with EDD after being denied UI benefits.
In March I quit my job for health reasons, on the advice of my physician. There were several circumstances which contributed to the decision that leaving my job was the only reasonable solution for me, and after filing I promptly had a phone interview with EDD. The interviewer was much nicer than 99% of the people I have dealt with at EDD, however less than a week later I received a letter from them saying they denied my claim because:
“You quit your last job with ********** Corp. because of health reasons. You did not request lighter work or explore all reasonable solutions before you quit. After considering available information, the department finds that you do not meet the legal requirements for payment of benefits.”
As I read further down the letter it gave examples of what EDD considers "reasonable solutions":
“Title 22, Section 1256-3(c) provides:
Prior to leaving work the claimant has a duty to attempt to preserve the employment relationship. Failure to do so negates what would otherwise constitute good cause.
This duty may be satisfied by reasonable steps, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
1. Seeking an adjustment of the problem by allowing the employer an opportunity to remedy the situation if the employer can reasonably do so.
2. Seeking a leave of absence or transfer to other employment with the same employer if likely to remedy the problem and if the claimant knew or should have known that a leave or a transfer probably would have been granted had one been requested.
3. Taking steps within his or her own control, such as hiring a sitter for child care to solve a child care problem, or joining a car pool or repairing an automobile or purchasing a replacement vehicle to solve a transportation problem.”
The problem I have with their argument is that prior to my leaving, I did all of those things! Infact, when talking to the EDD interviewer, I mentioned them as reasons for leaving, but I guess they did not listen?... In fact, during my interview they did not ask me one single question whatsoever about whether or not I tried to make any accomodations to preserve my employment. At the end, I asked specifically if there were any other questions they needed to ask me in order to make a determination, and she replied "No.".
One of the main factors that lead to my leaving was the fact that I was being harrassed by my manager. I filed a claim with HR and instead of dealing with it, they told me I must first go to my manager's boss. I did, and was told that unfortunately there was no room on the other team in our office, so I could not be moved to another manager.
Then my company closed our local office in South Orange County, and forced all employees from our location to commute to another office in North Orange County. This added more than 60 miles to my daily commute, and took more than an hour out of my working day. I went to management and discussed this with them, asking them to either change my territory (I was an outside sales rep) so that I would not be commutting as far and losing so much working time, or to allow me to only commute to this new office for required meetings. I was told no on both accounts - there were no open territories, so they couldnt give me a closer one, and they said that if they allowed me to come into the office less than other reps, it would not be fair, eventhough I had the furthest commute by far.
Finally, I took a leave of absence to try to deal with the stress and anxiety my work was placing on me. When it was time to return, my employer was still unwilling to work with me on the issues I had with the new changes, so I quit. My employer was not willing to make any changes, and my doctor and I agreed that it would be best for me to seek other employment.
I put all of this into a letter to dispute their denial, but it has been over a month since I received the letter from EDD stating they received my appeal, and they have still not even sent me a court date. I have tried calling to speak with an UI representative, but am not even able to get onto HOLD! It always tells me "The maximum number of callers waiting to speak with an Unemployment Specialist has been reached. Please try your call again later." CLICK!
I am now out of money and will soon be applying for welfare. I am a college educated single mom, and now I am becomming a stereotype.This is seriously the worst time ever in my life.
I know eventually EDD will give me my day in court, but now I want to make sure that I leave that judge no doubts or wiggle room to deny my claim! What all should I bring to the hearing? I dont really have anything on paper, but I know I could get a letter from my doctor. Should I hire an attorney?
What is my best course of action to winning my appeal?
Thank you in advance for your help!!

