So lucky you got someone helpful! Last time I called the person just told me to keep waiting 😡

Congrats on getting through! That's awesome that the rep was able to approve your documents right away. I'm dealing with the same issue - uploaded my address verification docs 12 days ago and still pending. Your success story gives me hope! I'm definitely going to try calling at 8:01am tomorrow. Did you have to provide any additional information when you spoke with them, or did they just look at what you'd already uploaded?

This is such an incredible success story! Congratulations on winning your appeal and getting your payments released so quickly! 🎉 As someone who just discovered this community while dealing with my own EDD nightmare, reading through your entire journey from the initial hearing to getting paid has been incredibly informative and inspiring. Your case with the 60% hour reduction being classified as "voluntary quit" is exactly the kind of wrongful denial that seems to plague EDD's system. The fact that you meticulously documented everything and the judge saw right through EDD's weak arguments gives me so much hope for others facing similar situations. What really stands out to me is how proactive you were about calling EDD immediately after getting your favorable decision. It's ridiculous that their system doesn't automatically process appeal victories, but your experience shows that being persistent really pays off. Getting through on your third try and having the rep manually release your payments within hours is exactly the kind of outcome everyone here is hoping for. Thank you for taking the time to update this thread throughout your entire process - from the initial anxiety about waiting for the decision, to celebrating the victory, to successfully getting your payments released. Your timeline of 7 business days for the decision and next-day payment release after calling provides such valuable insight for others navigating this broken system. Stories like yours make this community so valuable for people fighting these wrongful denials!

Wow, what an incredible journey to follow from start to finish! As someone completely new to this community (just joined after getting my own EDD denial), your story gives me so much hope and practical guidance. The fact that you went from anxiously waiting for your decision to actually getting paid in just over a week is amazing. Your case really highlights how broken EDD's initial review process is - a 60% reduction in hours being called "voluntary quit" is absolutely ridiculous. Of course you had to find other work! It's so encouraging that the judge saw right through their weak arguments and that the EDD rep couldn't even properly defend their position. The timeline you've shared has been invaluable - 7 business days for the decision, then getting payments released the very next day after calling EDD directly. I'm definitely taking notes on calling right at 8 AM and having all the case numbers ready. It's frustrating that we have to chase them down for money we're legally entitled to, but your proactive approach clearly worked. Thank you for being so generous with updates throughout this whole process. Reading about your victory gives everyone here fighting similar wrongful denials the motivation to keep pushing forward. Congratulations again on getting through this nightmare - you absolutely deserved this win! 🎉

As a newcomer to this community, I'm so grateful to have found this thread! I just got my disqualification notice yesterday and was completely panicking until I read through everyone's experiences here. @Sean O'Connor - Your update about figuring out the doctor's appointment issue gives me huge relief! Like so many others, I think I made the exact same mistake. I marked YES to being unable to accept full-time work because I had a physical therapy appointment that lasted 90 minutes on a Thursday morning. I thought ANY unavailability meant YES, but now I understand they're asking about overall weekly availability. It's really concerning how many people are getting caught by these same poorly worded questions. Reading through all the newcomer comments, it's clear this is a widespread issue - medical appointments, job interviews, family emergencies, training sessions - all legitimate activities that shouldn't disqualify anyone from benefits. The consistent advice from experienced members like @Zara Ahmed and @Mateo Lopez about filing appeals within 30 days and continuing to certify has been invaluable. I was terrified that certifying after disqualification would make things worse, but everyone's explanations about protecting backpay rights make perfect sense. I'm filing my appeal today and will document everything carefully. Thank you all for creating such a supportive space where people can get real advice from others who've actually been through this process. This community has been a lifesaver for understanding these EDD challenges!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to thank everyone for sharing such detailed and helpful experiences in this thread! I just received my own EDD disqualification notice last week and was feeling completely lost and overwhelmed until I found this discussion. @Sean O'Connor - Your success story and the update about getting through to EDD and figuring out the doctor's appointment question issue has given me so much hope! Like many others here, I believe I made a very similar mistake. I marked YES to being unable to accept full-time work because I had a court appearance that lasted about 4 hours on a Wednesday (it was for jury duty that I couldn't get out of). I genuinely thought that any time I couldn't be available for work meant I should answer YES, but reading through everyone's experiences, I now understand these questions are asking about overall weekly availability. What's really striking is seeing how many newcomers are commenting with almost identical situations - medical appointments, family emergencies, job interviews, legal obligations - all completely legitimate activities that shouldn't disqualify someone from unemployment benefits. It seems like EDD's certification questions are systematically confusing honest claimants who are trying to answer truthfully. The unanimous advice from experienced community members about filing appeals within 30 days and continuing to certify during the appeal process has been invaluable. I was initially terrified that certifying after getting disqualified might be considered fraudulent, but all the explanations about protecting your right to backpay make complete sense. I'm preparing my appeal letter today and will make sure to clearly explain that I misunderstood what the availability question was actually asking. Thank you all for creating such a supportive community where people can learn from real experiences and get practical guidance for navigating this incredibly confusing system. This thread has truly been a lifesaver!

I'm currently dealing with a very similar situation and this thread has been a lifesaver! Got laid off three weeks ago with a $5,200 severance that my employer structured as "pay in lieu of notice" for 3 weeks. Like many others here, I was initially confused about whether to report it as a lump sum or allocated over time. After reading everyone's experiences, I called EDD (used the callback service someone mentioned - much better than trying to get through directly) and confirmed that mine will also be allocated week by week. No benefits for those 3 weeks, but my claim stays active as long as I keep certifying. One thing I wanted to add that I haven't seen mentioned yet: if you have any pending reimbursements from your former employer (like business expenses or vacation payouts), make sure you understand how those will be reported too. My HR department told me that unused vacation time gets reported separately from severance and might affect different weeks depending on when it's processed. Just another wrinkle to keep track of! Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it's made this whole process so much less stressful knowing what to expect.

I'm going through something very similar right now - got laid off last month and received a severance that's being allocated over several weeks. This entire thread has been incredibly educational! One thing I learned that might help others: if you're planning to file your taxes during your unemployment period, make sure you understand how both the severance and unemployment benefits will be reported. My tax preparer mentioned that severance is reported on a W-2 like regular wages, but unemployment benefits come on a separate 1099-G form. If you're doing your own taxes, it's easy to miss one or the other. Also, I discovered that some local workforce development centers offer free resume workshops and job search resources specifically for people receiving unemployment benefits. Mine even had networking events for professionals in similar situations. It's worth checking what's available in your area - sometimes these local resources are more accessible than trying to navigate everything through EDD directly. The community support in this thread has been amazing. It's so helpful to hear from people who've actually been through this process rather than trying to decipher the official EDD documentation on your own!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Certified on Sunday, UI Online has shown "paid" since Tuesday morning, but my bank account is still empty. This is my first time experiencing a delay like this and I was starting to worry something was wrong with my claim. Reading through all these comments has been such a relief - at least I know it's a widespread technical issue with EDD's system and not just me. It's really frustrating that they don't communicate these delays to us directly though. We shouldn't have to piece together what's happening through community forums! I'm going to keep checking my account and hopefully it shows up in the next day or two like it did for others here. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - this community is honestly more helpful than trying to call EDD directly!

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! Certified Sunday night, UI Online shows "paid" since Tuesday, but still no money in my account as of Friday morning. This thread has been incredibly helpful - it's reassuring to know this is a widespread technical issue and not something wrong with my specific claim. I was getting really stressed because I have bills due today and couldn't figure out what was happening. The fact that EDD doesn't send any notifications about these delays is absolutely maddening. We're expected to follow every rule perfectly and certify on time, but when their system has problems, we're left completely in the dark. Thank you to everyone who called and shared updates - this community provides better customer service than EDD itself! Hopefully my payment processes today like it did for others here.