I checked my claim this morning as I do every morning to find I’ve been “disqualified.” I immediately called the EDD. When I finally got through, I could hear the customer service lady mumbling about the disqualification. I put it together then. About a month prior to getting fired, they made a mistake and overpaid me. Something to do with their remote work system. At the time, no one made a fuss, I kept the money, work continued. So now the EDD computer system/an actual human thinks I’m trying to scam them. For…a grand total of $608. The customer service lady told me that I have to wait 10 days from my interview (July 5th) to appeal (why? I know you disqualified me TODAY). I was fired JUNE 7th which means the government expects people to be able to survive for a MINIMUM of 6 weeks. Which is impossible for most. Only possible for me because I live with my family so I’ll always have food to eat and gas to get to work.
What’s absolutely WILD to me about this whole thing is that in the text message my boss sent me to inform me I was fired (yes you read that right…a TEXT). She said she was grateful for the work I had done up to that point and would happily write me a reference if I needed it. So I am worth a reference but nothing tangibly helpful??? Gee…Thanks! I appreciate it!
Seems to me if the government REALLY wanted folks to “contribute to society” they’d make it so they don’t fall flat on their face trying to get there. Because what is the point if the first few months of getting a job and getting paid are just going to go to a variety of late bills? For folks less fortunate than I am, it means being on the streets with literally zero. Why should those people want to work when it’ll take them months even years to crawl their way back to where they once were which probably wasn’t the most financially stable place anyway?