EDD Updates Continue With Modernized Disability Benefits Application

The Employment Development Department (EDD) released a new online application for disability benefits this week, modernizing the agency following years of complaints over the previous longer, more complicated system.

Since the beginning of the decade, the EDD has rapidly modernized their systems and applications. During the pandemic, the EDD lost around $55 billion thanks to fraud permeating the Department when it was slammed by so many new claims. Being so overburdened during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, older systems failed to handle over 1 million new claims coming within two weeks. Traditional fraud checks also failed in unemployment, disability insurance, and other areas. While backlogged cases finally began to go down in the fall of 2020, more and more cases of fraud began to be discovered.

By February 2021, the fraud amount stood at $11.4 billion. As a result, the EDD swiftly made changes. Chipped benefit cards were introduced later in 2021. EDDNext was also created to modernize the department. By 2024, direct deposit for benefits was introduced to help cut down fraud. This was followed up a few months later by a new unemployment benefits form, giving fewer questions and making it simpler to understand. This week, the EDD opted to have a new disability benefits form much like the new unemployment form be introduced as a further way to reduce fraud and help with ease of use.

“We’re simplifying California’s disability application to serve our customers better,” said EDD Director Nancy Farias in a statement. “We’re designing and delivering systems that are easier for everyone to understand and access. Disability Insurance can be a complex public benefit program, with detailed eligibility requirements and required medical certifications. As a result, the application was often considered complex and confusing. In response, EDD asked customers, employees, and advocates for ideas to make the application easier.”

In terms of changes, the EDD gave an example of when workers may want their benefits to start at a different time than when their actual disability began. It was found that many customers said they experienced difficulty providing a date in response to, “Date you want your Disability Insurance claim to begin if different than the date your disability began.” In the new form, it now has a simpler, yes-or-no question, “Do you want your claim to start on a different date?” If yes, customers are then prompted to provide a date.

Currently, 18 million Californians are covered under the State Disability Insurance Program, which pays out benefits for injured and disabled Californian workers through Disability Insurance (DI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) claims. Over 500,000 workers in California receive Social Security disability benefits, with a similar number getting claims through the state. According to the EDD, weekly disability payments range between $50 and $1,640.

It is currently unknown if the new form will bring about a significant new amount of disability beneficiaries. While the new form does increase ease of use, the plainer language of the new form and a continued fraud crackdown, as well as the burden of proof, makes it difficult for fraudsters to be successfully added into the system.