Coronavirus Unemployment: What if You're Furloughed Or Your Hours Are Reduced?
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — With an increase in furloughed workers this week, there are a lot of questions about whether they are entitled to unemployment — especially for those who are still working part-time or getting partial pay.
If you are furloughed without pay, you're entitled to full unemployment, just like anyone else out of work. And if you're furloughed with partial pay, you may qualify for partial benefits.
According to the Employment Development Department (EDD), you are eligible for unemployment "if your usual number of work hours are reduced through no fault of your own."
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The first $25 or 25% of the money you are making on furlough, whichever is greater, is not counted against your EDD claim. However, the rest of your weekly paycheck will be deducted from your weekly unemployment check.
For example, if your reduced paycheck is $100 a week, the EDD would not count the first $25, but they would deduct $75 from your weekly unemployment payment. Meaning, if you qualified for the maximum unemployment payment of $450 a week, you would only get $375 from the EDD.
We also asked the EDD if people with reduced hours or partial pay would also get the full $600 federal unemployment payment. The agency said it couldn't answer that question on Tuesday.
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EDD has still not provided details on how or when it will begin paying out that federal money to any unemployed Californians. On April 2, the agency said it hoped to begin sending out the federal benefit payments this week to those who had already qualified for state unemployment.
It is still unclear how or when Californian's who don't qualify for state benefits, but who do qualify for the $600 federal unemployment payments under the CARES Act, can start applying for that money.