- Video shows John White, a local Bakersfield man, sharing his difficulties trying to reach EDD disability services via phone and online. He says that one afternoon, he called nearly 200 times. Eventually, he contacted his local representative for help.
- The Employment Development Department handles claims for both disability insurance and unemployment.
- White says he hopes sharing his story can help others, saying, “There [are] people probably worse than me that need to talk to them and get stuff taken care of and, you know, when they cut the checks off, that’s your lifeline.”
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Here in California, the state's Employment Development Department handles claims for both unemployment and disability insurance. According to departmental data, from July 2024 to August 10, they received over 900,000 calls just for unemployment services alone. This summer, 23ABC's Grace Laverriere met a local man who says he'd been trying to get through to the disability services department, and he ended up looking for other options.
An automated voice became the soundtrack of John White’s days while trying to get through to the Employment Development Department or the EDD for Disability Insurance. He says he spent one afternoon calling one hundred ninety-nine times.
“If you can’t talk to them, you can’t fix it,” White said.
John and I first met in July, six months after he says his back injury took him out of work.
“I sent paperwork in and tried to call disability for a week and just nobody answered the phone,” he said.
After that first week of calling, unable to speak to someone from EDD, John tells me he looked for other options, including reaching out to his local representative Dr. Jasmeet Bains, assemblymember for the 35th District.
“I finally reached out to Miss Bains’s office, and they called somebody. The next day I got a phone call from disability and it only took five minutes to take care of everything," said White. "I just spent a week trying to get to them…I’m just glad they were there. I mean that saved my sanity otherwise I’d have been beating my head against the wall.”
23ABC spoke to Assemblymember Bains on Zoom, and she shared how proud she was of her office’s commitment to helping.
“My office obviously at a state-level can’t do everything. We try our best to do what we can," Bains said. "That’s one of the biggest honors of being elected to this position is helping people in any capacity that we can.”
In July, not long after John first contacted his local representative, he says he found himself back at square one, trying to resolve an issue with his disability check.
“It’s frustrating, you know, you know what you need and—both times it hasn’t been a big issue. It’s just a little thing, but you got to be able to talk with somebody,” White said.
In California, the EDD is the state agency that handles disability insurance. According to department data, the call center has received an average of 196,000 calls per week in 2024.
I reached out to the agency, and they said in a statement that they are dealing with a high volume of calls, and they are working on solutions.
EDD said in part: “The EDD is in the midst of a major modernization project called EDDNext. One of the key projects is implementing a new Integrated Contact Center aimed at enhancing the overall customer experience…That includes a new chat bot and live chat feature for customers…Our Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave programs are the first ones being integrated into this new platform over the next several months.”
This week, 23ABC checked in with John. He said on Aug. 14, after weeks of trying, he got through on the phone, and his disability check issue was resolved.
He said he’s grateful to close that door, but come Sept. 4, his disability insurance is up for renewal.
“I gotta start again next month," White said. "They’ve already sent me the paperwork to renew it. I don't know, I’m not looking forward to it, but I'll start tomorrow.”
More information about EDDNext can be found here. EDD says they encourage people to sign up for amyEDD account to manage claims online.
More information on Assemblymember Bains' district can be found on her official website. To contact her office, call (661) 335-0302. To find your local California representative, click here.
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