How have workers been hurt?
A former tech office worker forced into living in his friend’s car. A furloughed Disney candymaker struggling to pay for her son’s medication. Untold numbers of other jobless Californians left in financial limbo due to a chain of failures after they filed for unemployment.
Amid EDD’s bureaucratic meltdown, the state backlog for processing unemployment applications has stretched up to 1.6 million, and thousands of others have been caught up in mass account freezes to weed out fraud. Many of those whose unemployment debit cards were frozen or who saw credits for fraudulent charges suddenly reversed say they have ping-ponged between the state and Bank of America trying to get their money back.
Now, with tax season just around the corner, another unsuspecting group is being dragged into the mess: those whose identities were stolen by fraudsters to file for unemployment, and who are just now learning they’ve been targeted. So opens another chapter in the state’s unemployment fraud odyssey.
Jessica Gallup and her five-and-a-half-month-old daughter Sunny on the balcony of their one bedroom apartment in South San Francisco on August 6, 2020. After she lost an extra $600-a-week federal unemployment supplement, Gallup worried how she would make ends meet. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters 
Delario Woods used to work as a dishwasher at a San Francisco tech office. When the pandemic hit and his unemployment debit card was frozen, he was forced to move into a friend’s car in Oakland. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters. 
Stephanie Moore and her eight-month-old dog, Spooky, in their Lawndale apartment, on Nov. 17, 2020. Moore said she had to choose between staying housed and fighting Bank of America for thousands of dollars in missing unemployment payments. Photo by Tash Kimmell for CalMatters 
Furloughed Disneyland candymaker Julie Hansen ended up living in her Fiat with her son after a dispute with the state and Bank of America over more than $12,000 drained from her unemployment debit card. Photo courtesy of Julie Hansen. 
Matt Hoffman plays guitar while on hold with Bank of America at his girlfriend’s house in Escalon on Nov. 13, 2020. Hoffman, who has been unemployed since suffering a stroke last year, said he lost almost $7,000 worth of benefits to fraud. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters 
A photo from the 1980s shows Sandra Huweiler, who passed away during the pandemic at age 79, and her son, Robert, who grieved the loss of his mother, while living on $450 in weekly unemployment benefits. Photo courtesy of Robert Huweiler