Report 2020-128/628.1 All Recommendation Responses

Report 2020-128/628.1: Employment Development Department: EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns (Release Date: January 2021)

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that EDD's claims processing is as effective and efficient as possible, the Legislature should require EDD to convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from the claim surge and identify the processes that EDD can still improve. That working group should do to the following:

-Include representatives from EDD's UI branch, IT branch, and executive management. It should also include representatives from the strike team.

-Issue a report on the lessons learned from the claim surge by no later than January 2022. The report should identify any improvements that the working group recommends that EDD make and include a review of EDD's implementation of the strike team's recommendations.

Description of Legislative Action

As of October 27, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would have, in part, required EDD to convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, identify the processes that EDD can still improve, and issue a report by January 1, 2022. This bill died in the Assembly.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would, in part, require EDD to convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, identify the processes that EDD can still improve and issue a report by January 1, 2022. This bill is pending in the Assembly.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under this project, EDD would, among other things, convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from claim surges and identify the processes that the department can still improve. It shall then issue a report on the lessons learned and identify any recommended improvements for the department and include a review of the department's implementation of the 2020 Employment Development Department strike team recommendations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under this project, EDD would, among other things, convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from claim surges and identify the processes that the department can still improve. It shall then issue a report on the lessons learned and identify any recommended improvements for the department and include a review of the department's implementation of the 2020 Employment Development Department strike team recommendations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Recommendation #2 To: Employment Development Department

To provide a more transparent picture of claims in its backlog, by March 2021 EDD should revise its public dashboards to clearly indicate the number of claims that have waited longer than 21 days for payment because EDD has not yet resolved pending work on the claim.

In summary, the CSA recommended the EDD provide a more transparent picture of the claims in its backlog by revising the public dashboards.

As of March 26, 2021, the EDD appears to have met this recommendations based on the newly released Unemployment Benefits Data Dashboard. The dashboard shows statewide and county-specific information about unemployment claims in California, call center demand, and other performance metrics. This includes:

- Total Unemployment Claims - including claims paid, claims ineligible for benefits, and backlog of claims past 21 days pending EDD action.

- Claims Filed and Benefits Paid by Month - including data since January 2020 in California.

- County and State Breakout Data - including localized claim, industry, and demographic data.

- Phone Calls - including call attempts, unique callers, and calls answered.

- Assembly Bill 107 Data Dashboard Report - legislatively mandated biweekly update of EDD unemployment services.

The dashboard can be accessed here: https://edd.ca.gov/Newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard.htm.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed the revised dashboard and found that EDD now clearly indicates the number of claims that have waited longer than 21 days for payment because EDD has not yet resolved pending work on the claim.

Recommendation #3 To: Employment Development Department

To ensure that its identity verification processes are as robust as possible, EDD should determine by June 2021 the reasons why claimants cannot successfully complete their identity verification through ID.me and work with its vendor to resolve these problems. EDD should thereafter regularly monitor the rate of successful identity verifications to ensure that it consistently minimizes unnecessary staff intervention.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) completed its work with the ID.me vendor to improve the identity verification process. As of 1/3/2022, the last remaining ID process (Lack of Language Options for Un-Supervised Self Service Option) that required corrective action has been completed. (See attachment) EDD continues to monitor the ID.ME reports on a daily basis to improve customer experience.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

The Employment Development Department (EDD) continues to work with the ID.me vendor to improve the identity verification process. The EDD continuously improves claimants' experience by analyzing and resolving the root causes of identity verification process delays and monitoring metrics on a weekly basis. As of 9/30/21, two of the three remaining ID processes that required corrective actions have been completed, and one remains in progress. (See attachment)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

Until EDD successfully updates its final language access related matter, this recommendation remains only partially implemented. Also, we noted a dip in the rate of successful use of ID.me since the last time EDD reported its progress to us. Whereas EDD had previously attained a success rate in the high 80 percent to low 90 percent range, its most recent report showed the success rate dipping into the 80-percent range exclusively. Therefore, EDD should continue to monitor the success or failure of its claimants at using its identity verification service.

The EDD began working with the vendor ID.me, and analyzed the root causes of when claimants cannot successfully complete the identity verification process and addressed issues found. Based on the results of the root cause analysis, EDD took appropriate actions to mitigate or resolve the issues. Please see attachment for more details.

EDD is currently monitoring the metrics on a weekly basis to continuously improve claimants' experience and improve processing times. The true pass/success rate for legitimate claimants has increased significantly from 83.39% during the first month of implementation to up to 91.50% in the most recent monitoring period. Please see attached ID.me Weekly Reports.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

EDD has worked with ID.me to identify the reasons why claimants could not successfully complete their identify verification online. EDD and ID.me identified issues including problems with the submission of valid identity documents, individuals who did not own a smartphone not being able to complete online verification, and certain language barriers. For some of the identified issues, EDD indicates that fixes has been implemented that have benefited the users of ID.me. However, for issues related to language access, EDD indicates that progress in addressing language barriers is ongoing. EDD is also continuing to monitor the verification rate of claimant identities and reports from ID.me indicate that the verification rate is higher than it was during our audit. If EDD continues to regularly monitor the success rate of the ID.me verification and addresses the language barriers it has identified, it will fully implement this recommendation.

The EDD is currently working with ID.me to identify the reasons why legitimate claimants cannot successfully complete their identity verification through ID.me. The EDD and ID.me are regularly meeting to discuss possible solutions in order to minimize unnecessary staff intervention and ways to better serve claimants.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #4 To: Employment Development Department

To retain as much automation in initial claims processing as possible, by June 2021 EDD should determine the automation modifications achieved through its emergency processing tool that it can retain and by September 2021 it should make those a permanent feature of its UI Online application.

Six eCPT features in UIOnline were made permanent and implemented on 6/1/2022. The attached artifact provides details on the six eCPT measures.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

The scope of work is to implement six automated eCPT measures permanently. The requirements for this effort have been approved. The UI Online development was completed on 04/01/22 and testing started on 04/04/22. The training and procedural updates have started and will be completed by 05/13/22 (Planned). Go-Live is on schedule for 06/10/22. The six automated eCPT measures will be implemented, effective 06/10/22.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

The Information Technology Branch and Unemployment Insurance (UI) Branch reviewed the temporary claim filing conditions that were implemented using the emergency processing tool. In June 2021, the modifications were evaluated to see which could be made permanent features for claim filing logic in the UI Online application. After evaluation, six eCPT coding measures are candidates for permanent placement in UI Online. The number of claimants impacted by each condition as of May 2021, along with data availability, were key inputs for our evaluation. These recommended measures can be implemented with a high level of confidence and accuracy based on claimant and wage data available during the claim filing process.

Requirements and design discussions have begun for this effort and UI Branch participation is required. However, UI Branch resources have been focused heavily on the Department of Labor mandated efforts for past stimulus programs. These include projects for employment substantiation, overpayment establishment, and continued anti-fraud efforts. Due to the above resource constraints, the anticipated completion date for this effort is 9/30/2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

The Information Technology Branch and Unemployment Insurance Branch reviewed the temporary claim filing conditions that were implemented using the emergency processing tool. In June 2021, the modifications were evaluated to see which could be made permanent features for claim filing logic in the UI Online application. After evaluation, six eCPT coding measures are candidates for permanent placement in UI Online. The number of claimants impacted by each condition as of May 2021, along with data availability, were key inputs for our evaluation. These recommended measures can be implemented with a high level of confidence and accuracy based on claimant and wage data available during the claim filing process. Due to urgent, mandated efforts by the Department of Labor to make necessary changes to the Federal-State Extended Duration (FED-ED) benefit extension as well as the federal stimulus programs, the Employment Development Department has not been able to implement these six changes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

The Information Technology Branch (ITB) and Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) reviewed the temporary claim filing conditions that were implemented using the emergency processing tool. In June 2021, the modifications were evaluated to see which could be made permanent features for claim filing logic in the UI Online application. After evaluation, six eCPT coding measures are candidates for permanent placement in UI Online. The number of claimants impacted by each condition as of the May 2021, along with data availability, were key inputs for our evaluation. These recommended measures can be implemented with a high level of confidence and accuracy based on claimant and wage data available during the claim filing process. While EDD is working to implement the six eCPT conditions by September 30, 2021, due to urgent, mandated efforts by the Department of Labor to make necessary changes to the Federal-State Extended Duration (FED-ED) benefit extension as well as the federal stimulus programs, there is a very high risk that this date may not be met.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

The Information Technology Branch has started analyzing the claim filing conditions that are automated using the emergency processing tool. This project is in the initial stages because all the claim filing experts have been busy implementing the American Rescue Plan and other Unemployment Insurance (UI) program changes. The EDD is committed to making automation enhancements in UI Online as suggested by the California State Auditor.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #5 To: Employment Development Department

To ensure that it does not delay needed improvements to its IT systems, EDD should, by June 2021, identify the elements of the BSM that can assist it in making timely payments and that it can implement incrementally. It should then prioritize implementing the elements most likely to benefit Californians.

The BSM project was paused September 2020. This step was taken to refocus the project, so that inefficiencies could be more fully reviewed to ensure operational challenges identified during the pandemic are not included on a new platform. The EDD began a business process re-engineering effort February 2021 to identify improvements to the policies, administrative procedures and processes to ensure that any new system would incorporate the improvements into the solution. EDD recognizes that continual improvement is needed, and our goal is to continue to leverage and implement solutions that will enhance claims processing and payments. We will implement solutions in an iterative and modular approach and prioritize based on benefits to our constituents.

The following are BSM-related elements that could expedite claim processing and payments. Each identified element includes an impact narrative followed by original reference items that can meet the spirit of the CSA recommendation. Several of the identified BSM elements are in progress, and some have been completed. Many of the elements will be addressed during the EDD's Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) effort. The BPR effort that EDD is commencing in August 2021 to identify processes that can be improved to create a customer friendly interaction process between the customers and EDD. It will define specific improvements to current processes that can then be automated and streamlined to simplify the customer experience and pay eligible claimants faster. The new or updated processes will then be implemented in the re-imagined BSM project. (see attachment)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD has identified elements of the BSM that it can implement incrementally, prioritized those elements, including those most likely to result in more timely payments, and developed a timeframe for their implementation.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has assigned a team consisting of former Benefit Systems Modernization (BSM) team members to address the California State Auditor (CSA) recommendation pertaining to BSM elements that could potentially be implemented. The team has reviewed all the functional requirements developed for the BSM project and extracted improvements that would expedite payments and/or benefit claim processing. These improvements are categorized by functional tracks, which is how the BSM project organized the various workloads. The next steps include a review by UIB leadership and a handoff to the Information Technology Branch (ITB) to discuss the priority of functionality and establish an implementation plan to meet the CSA recommendation's intent.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #6 To: Employment Development Department

To ensure its ability to respond in a timely fashion to fluctuations in its workload, EDD should immediately begin modeling workload projections that account for possible scenarios that would cause a spike in UI claims. EDD should plan its staffing around the likelihood of those scenarios, including having a contingency plan for less likely scenarios that would have a significant impact on its workload.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) has developed a method for modeling workload projections and creating "What If Scenarios" for its phone and off-phone workloads as it relates to managing workloads, including the potential of increases to UI claim volumes. Additionally, the UICCD has developed options for meeting increased workload demands, as well as, an approach to centralization and management of UI workloads at an enterprise level for the optimization of workload forecasting and workload management activities.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD has developed a method for modeling workload projections that accounts for possible scenarios that would cause a spike in UI claims as well as having a plan for how it will address spikes in the workload that are associated with a rise in claims. Further, EDD has modeled the likely number of claims it will receive in the future and is continuing to refine its estimations of the level of work it will need to conduct to process those claims. EDD provided evidence that it is monitoring workload levels to review where it is assigning staff. It will remain critically important for EDD to continue applying these approaches to projecting and monitoring its workload and also to continue to refine its approach as its operations change over time.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) completed the recruitment for the Workload Forecasting Unit which includes one first-level manager and three professional analysts. The UICCD continues to work with the vendor, Eventus, to develop workload forecast models and "what if" scenarios utilizing the NiCE IEX system. As a part of the Modeling Workload Projections workload plan provided by the UICCD, the UICCD continues to implement Phase I (Short-Term) workload management, workload forecasting, and the centralization of claim filing workloads at an enterprise level.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

In January 2021, the Employment Development Department (EDD) established the Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD). The UICCD is developing a workload forecasting and workload modeling plan to address incoming workload volumes, existing backlogs, and a workload management plan to centralize and manage UI Branch workload activities. The development of the workload projection and workload management plan work in tandem and will be implemented in a phased approach; and will be a "living" document for sustainable business operations. In May 2021, the UICCD hired a first-level manager to lead the Workload Forecasting Unit and the recruitment process has begun for five professional analysts. The UICCD anticipates completing hiring activities for the Workload Forecasting Unit by September 2021. The Workload Forecasting Unit functions include analyzing actual and forecasting data outcomes and data models; developing and managing Service Level Agreements, and key performance indicators; analyzing workload levels and trends; and historical trend analysis.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The EDD has begun the process of discussing the approach to modeling workload projections and associated staffing levels to account for the fluctuations in workload levels. The EDD has begun reviewing existing documentation and historical data metrics in order to develop workload projections based on key leading indicators. The EDD is in the process of outlining a workload forecasting plan to ensure it accounts for a variety of different situations and circumstances to proactively manage workload levels in an effective and efficient manner. In addition, with the formation of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Command Center Division, the division is in the process of hiring and recruiting staff to assist and manage workload projections long term.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure transparency in EDD's operations and provide information to policymakers, the Legislature should require EDD to report on its website at least once every six months the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments, the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices, the amount it has waived overpayment on, and the amount repaid related to those notices. The reports should encompass benefit payments EDD made from March 2020 until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations. EDD should be required to publish these reports until the repayment period for all the notices has elapsed.

Description of Legislative Action

AB 56 (Chapter 510, Statutes of 2021), in part, requires EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 56 (Salas, 2021), in part, would require EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations. The bill would also require EDD to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims. Finally, this bill would require EDD to convene two working groups, including one to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, to identify the processes that EDD can still improve, and to issue a report by January 1, 2023.

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under the project, the bill would require EDD to report at least once every six months on its internet website information regarding the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments; the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices; the amount of overpayments waived; and the amount repaid related to those overpayment notices. The reports must encompass benefit payments made by the department from March 1, 2020, until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

AB 56 (Salas, 2021), in part, would require EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations. The bill would also require EDD to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims. Finally, this bill would require EDD to convene two working groups, including one to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, to identify the processes that EDD can still improve, and to issue a report by January 1, 2023.

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under the project, the bill would require EDD to report at least once every six months on its internet website information regarding the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments; the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices; the amount of overpayments waived; and the amount repaid related to those overpayment notices. The reports must encompass benefit payments made by the department from March 1, 2020, until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Recommendation #8 To: Employment Development Department

To continue providing timely payment of benefits to Californians in need while also effectively responding to the Department of Labor's directive regarding immediately resuming all eligibility determinations and resolving all suspended determinations, EDD should do the following:

-Perform a risk assessment of its deferred workloads, including deferred eligibility determinations and retroactive certifications. EDD's assessment should take into account the relative likelihood that it issued payments to ineligible claimants by considering historic overpayment trends as well as the new or altered eligibility requirements the federal government adopted in response to the pandemic. If necessary, EDD should either partner with another state agency or contract for assistance in performing the analysis in support of this assessment.

The EDD entered into a contract with Accenture to perform the risk assessment of its deferred workloads in support of this recommendation. The overall Deferred Workloads Population was subdivided into three, non-mutually exclusive sub-populations: claims subject to suspended determinations, retroactive certifications, and employer protests. Accenture performed a risk assessment framework to segment the overall population and sub-populations into low, high-medium, and high risk of potential ineligibility. Qualitative guidance from field offices and case workers was incorporated to inform the quantitative analysis. The use of historical data since 2008 was included to compute ineligibility risk and then applied findings to the current population as appropriate. The deferred workloads population consists of claimants of both UI and PUA programs, and each sub-population was assessed for estimated risk of potential ineligibility for these programs. Both State and Federal level Extension programs were also considered as part of this assessment.

Based on the different availability and granularity of data for each respective population, the risk assessment consists of deterministic and probabilistic approaches, and in some cases - population sizing, where data may be limited in availability. The risk assessment outputs then estimate the upper and lower bounds of likeliness of ineligibility of claims and, of the associated dollar amounts paid out to said claims. As part of this assessment, reference and operational tables have been produced to support the prioritization of determination efforts.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

The risk analysis commenced on April 12, 2021 and, has continued to progress. Submission of the final analysis is expected by August 31, 2021.

Within the completed risk analysis conducted, the Employment Development Department (EDD) will provide directional estimated ranges of ineligible payments made by EDD corresponding to certain populations of claims. These populations, as identified by the EDD, will include claims, subject to suspended determinations, retroactive certifications, and employer protests based on available data. Additionally, the projections contained in the analysis will consider available historical data to inform expectations from retrospective trends. For illustration, a sample of the on-going analysis related to claims subject to suspended determinations accompanies this update.

At times, the risk analysis may be subject to certain constraints due to the availability of data or, for other reasons. For example, claims subject to only employer protests, that is, claims mutually exclusive from the other populations, population-sizing may be performed with estimated ranges of ineligible payments. Similarly, the ineligible payments segment of the analysis for this specific population may be restricted to those claims with "identity not confirmed", given data constraints.

Based on the risk analysis, the EDD will derive operational tables associated with these populations to identify the impacted SSNs, at the record level. The EDD is also collecting other supporting artifacts, including the attendant business requirements document, data dictionary (where available), and data Q&A records available for review.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has initiated meetings with a contracted vendor, Accenture, who will assist with a risk assessment of the deferred workloads. Data requirements for analysis have been documented, and data is being gathered for the population of claimant account records in scope. Further definition of business requirements for the output is being conducted to ensure that the analysis will optimally inform the EDD of how to prioritize the workload. This output should help to advise the EDD on downstream considerations for staffing and support.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #9 To: Employment Development Department

To continue providing timely payment of benefits to Californians in need while also effectively responding to the Department of Labor's directive regarding immediately resuming all eligibility determinations and resolving all suspended determinations, EDD should do the following:

-Develop a workload plan that prioritizes its deferred workloads based on the risk assessment and determine the staffing and IT resources needed to accomplish the work within expected time frames.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch has utilized the risk assessment developed by Accenture to develop a workload liquidation plan of its deferred workloads. In August 2021, the Employment Development Department (EDD) released a Request for Quote (RFQ), and in September 2021, the vendor, Maximus, was selected to execute the Statement of Work. Using the risk assessment developed by Accenture and the liquidation hours used in the RFQ, the EDD has developed a workload plan to address prospective workloads (to assist current workload inventories), deferred eligibility determinations, deferred Employer Protests, and retroactive certifications. In collaboration with the vendor, Maximus, the Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division will monitor, manage, and proactively forecast workload and staffing assignments to liquidate these workloads timely.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD has developed a workload plan that prioritizes its workloads based on the risk assessment and relevant timelines and identifies the staffing and related resources needed to address its deferred work.

We will continue to monitor EDD's implementation of that plan in Recommendations 10 and 11.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) is working in line with the risk assessment being conducted by Accenture, including the data being collected, to begin the development of a workload plan to prioritize the deferred workloads. In addition, the UIB will determine the staffing needs and Information Technology resources required to accomplish the workload within expected timeframes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The department has resumed processing eligibility determinations and has acquired a vendor, Accenture, to develop a risk assessment of all deferred workloads. The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) will develop a workload plan that prioritizes the deferred workloads based on risk and determine the staffing needs and IT resources required to accomplish the work within expected timeframes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #10 To: Employment Development Department

To continue providing timely payment of benefits to Californians in need while also effectively responding to the Department of Labor's directive regarding immediately resuming all eligibility determinations and resolving all suspended determinations, EDD should do the following:

-Hire and train staff as necessary in order to carry out the workload plan.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has added one additional cohort, bringing the current count to ten cohorts. The UIB is concluding the onboarding and provisioning the tenth cohort in alignment with the Employment Development Department's workload plan to address its prospective and deferred workload. A total of 2,635 vendor staff including production staff and operational oversight have been onboarded, provisioned, or began production.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD has demonstrated that it has added resources as needed to continue to implement its workplan, showing that it has fully implemented this recommendation. To the extent that EDD continues to recognize its need for additional resources and acquire those resources, then it will continue to have fully implemented this recommendation.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has modified its workload plan to increase the number of cohorts from eight cohorts to nine cohorts to assist with benefit audit workloads. Although the benefit audit workload was included in the initial workload plan, this was separated into a distinct cohort due to the provisioning and training required. The UIB continues to onboard, provision, and train vendor agents to address the Employment Development Department's (EDD) prospective and deferred workloads. Each "cohort" continues to be provided targeted training on priority workloads outlined in the workload plan. The EDD anticipates that Cohort 9 will begin production in March 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch has developed a workload plan to address its deferred workloads. In August 2021, the Employment Development Department (EDD) released a Request for Quote (RFQ), and in September 2021, the vendor, Maximus was selected to execute the Statement of Work. The workload plan developed is divided into eight "cohorts" to bring on 300 vendor agents every two weeks until sufficient staff is onboard to address the EDD's prospective and deferred workloads. Each "cohort" will be provided targeted training on select priority workloads. This approach will allow for the backlog to be addressed immediately and minimize the total training time required. The workloads have been prioritized by those workloads that impact customers currently, and then deferred workloads as outlined in the Accenture Deferred Workload Risk Assessment. The EDD anticipates that Cohort 8 will begin production in February 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch has developed a monthly hiring plan and will continue to hire and train staff as necessary to meet workload demands. As the Risk Assessment is completed and the workload plan is developed the hiring plan will be modified as needed to complete the deferred workloads.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has developed a monthly hiring plan and will continue to hire and train staff as necessary to meet workload demands and to complete deferred workloads as outlined on the established workload plan.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #11 To: Employment Development Department

To continue providing timely payment of benefits to Californians in need while also effectively responding to the Department of Labor's directive regarding immediately resuming all eligibility determinations and resolving all suspended determinations, EDD should do the following:

-Using the workload plan, EDD should process the deferred work in alignment with the following: the need to pay timely benefits to new or continued claimants, federal expectations about the urgency of the deferred work, and any deadlines by which EDD may no longer be allowed to recoup inappropriately paid benefits.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch fully liquidated its deferred workloads on April 30, 2023, in alignment with the Employment Development Department's (EDD) projected workload forecast. As it relates to the EDD's blanket waiver application status with the U.S. Department of Labor, the EDD has since liquidated its deferred workloads and has rescinded its blanket waiver applications associated with deferred determinations.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

The Unemployment Insurance Branch continues to process its deferred workloads. The Employment Development Department (EDD) continues to remain firm on its forecasts for an April 2023 date to complete its deferred workloads. To date, the EDD is still pending a response from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding the status of its blanket waiver application.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch continues to process its deferred workloads. The Employment Development Department (EDD) continues to forecast an April 2023 date to complete its deferred workloads. To date, the EDD is still pending a response from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding the status of its blanket waiver application.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch continues to process its deferred workloads and is still pending blanket waiver consideration guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Employment Development Department is now forecasting a liquidation date of April 2023 for its deferred workloads.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) continues to address both its prospective and deferred workloads. The UIB's deferred workloads are being processed based on the prioritization outlined in the risk assessment performed by Accenture.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) continues to address both its prospective and deferred workloads. The UIB's deferred workloads are being processed based on the prioritization outlined in the risk assessment performed by Accenture. The UIB has also updated its planned liquidation date from July 2022 to September 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) began addressing both its prospective and deferred workloads. The UIB's deferred workloads are being processed based on the prioritization outlined in the risk assessment performed by Accenture. The UIB has also taken into account the statutory requirements to recoup benefits that were improperly paid for regular unemployment insurance claims and federal benefit programs (e.g., Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, extended benefits, etc.) when processing its deferred workloads.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has developed a workload plan it will execute to address its deferred workloads. The workload plan developed is divided into eight "cohorts" to address the UIB's prospective and deferred workloads in partnership with the vendor, Maximus. Each "cohort" will be provided targeted training on select priority workloads outlined in the Accenture risk assessment. The deferred workloads will be processed by both vendor agents and Unemployment Insurance (UI) merit staff. The UI Command Center Division will monitor the various determinations volumes and proactively forecast, and redirect vendor staff and UI merit staff, as needed. The Employment Development Department anticipates its deferred workloads will be liquidated by July 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch continues to identify and work through priority workloads including some of the deferred workloads. As the work plan is finalized we will utilize the plan to process the remaining deferred work in alignment with priorities to pay timely benefits to new or continued claimants, federal expectation, and deadlines to recoup inappropriately paid benefits.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) continues to identify and work through priority workloads including some of the deferred workloads. As the work plan is finalized we will utilize the plan to process the remaining deferred work in alignment with priorities to pay timely benefits to new or continued claimants, federal expectations, and deadlines to recoup inappropriately paid benefits.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #12 To: Employment Development Department

To ensure that it is able to take informed steps to provide better customer service through improved call center performance, EDD should implement a formal policy by no later than May 2021 that establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why UI claimants call for assistance. By no later than October 2021, and every six months thereafter, EDD should analyze these data to improve its call center by doing the following:

-Identifying and resolving weaknesses or problems with the ways in which it provides assistance to UI claimants through self-service and noncall-center options.

On January 31, 2023, the Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division implemented 11 "Agent Tags" into the Virtual Contact Center (VCC) for contact center agents to select why customers did not use self-service or non-contact center options. This new feature used by contact center agents within the VCC will allow the EDD to track and periodically analyze why UI customers call for assistance instead of using an available self-service option or non-contact center option. When a customer calls the contact center and speaks with a contact center agent, the agent will notate why the customer did not use self-service through an "Agent Tag" to select the most appropriate reason why a customer elected to call the contact center. Like disposition codes used by contact center agents, "Agent Tags" are a vital piece of information needed to gather to ensure the EDD is serving its customers in the best manner possible and optimizing the performance of the contact center.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed information provided by EDD regarding the "agent tags" and the results of its analysis of call data. These agent tags will enable EDD to identify the reasons that claimants chose to call instead of using noncall-center options. For example, some possible agent tags include "EDD chatbot attempted," Tele-Cert attempted," and "UI Online attempted." When a claimant chooses one of these reasons for calling, it means the claimant attempted to solve their issue using the noncall-center option but was unsuccessful and ultimately resorted to calling. The data EDD has collected and analyzed will enable it to make additional improvements to optimize those noncall-center options.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) has developed a mechanism via its Virtual Contact Center (VCC) to capture why Unemployment Insurance (UI) customers opt or prefer to call a contact center representative to obtain assistance with their benefit claim or inquire about the UI program instead of using a non-contact center or self-service option. The EDD has developed seven categories that will be used by contact center representatives to identify why a customer elected to call rather than using a non-contact center or self-service option, see attached Artifact. The EDD is finalizing its project related deliverables to train contact center representatives and anticipates implementing the functionality and furnish data metrics obtained within the VCC by March 31, 2023.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

We have reviewed the document EDD provided that describes the seven categories it will use to identify why a customer elected to call rather than using a non-contact center or self-service option. If EDD implements this functionality as planned, it would gather useful information about the reasons UI claimant call for assistance and could then implement changes to the ways it provides assistance to UI claimants through its self-service and non-call-center options. We look forward to the analysis EDD performs of the data it gathers.

The Employment Development Department continues to evaluate a sustainable business model to capture why Unemployment Insurance (UI) customers opt or prefer to call a contact center representative to obtain assistance with their benefit claim or the UI program instead of using a non-contact center or self-service options. The UI Branch is actively researching the capability for UI contact center representatives to collect this information via the My Agent Experience functionality within the Virtual Contact Center or a survey-based method administered to UI customers to collect the reasons why customers elect to call the contact center.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We look forward to the results of EDD's research and the approach EDD chooses to identify and resolve weaknesses with the ways in which it provides assistance to UI claimants through self-service and non-call-center options.

On June 15, 2022, the Employment Development Department (EDD) met with the California State Auditor (CSA) to review the artifacts submitted for CSA Recommendation # 12 submitted by the EDD with a request for the recommendation to be "fully implemented". During the collaborative discussion, the EDD received additional insight into the context of Recommendation # 12 and is now conducting research and analysis to best meet the recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We look forward to EDD's next update on the progress of its efforts to identify and resolve weaknesses or problems with the ways in which it provides assistance to UI claimants through self-service and noncall-center options.

In March 2022, the Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Branch's UI Command Center Division (UICCD) completed its quarterly analysis of disposition codes used by contact center agents from October 29, 2021, through January 29, 2022. Based on the completed analysis, the top reasons why customers are calling the contact center were identified to provide contact center agents with targeted training modules using the Knowledge Management System (KMS). On April 1, 2022, the KMS was updated to communicate that each week, the KMS will be updated to highlight a new disposition code and provide existing and new resources so staff can quickly access the reference materials to assist customers who are calling the contact center. Within the KMS, agents are provided with "articles" which provide a self-service option to guide a customer if they would like to continue on their own, or an assisted process to assist a customer. Additionally, the EDD continues to partner with the vendor, Emplifi, to continuously update the responses provided by the EDD Chatbot based on a customer's intent to provide a non-contact center channel to answer questions they may have on their benefit claim. After assessing the top reasons customers are calling the contact, the EDD is currently exploring "live" chat with customers as an additional non-contact center option to minimize the number of calls entering the contact center and improve the customer experience.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed the quarterly analysis of disposition codes and the knowledge management system documentation that EDD provided. We believe that providing additional training resources to its staff related to the topics most frequently sought by callers is valuable. Also the "self-service" process described in the example KMS article EDD provided appears to direct callers to online information intended to answer their questions. However, we believe that EDD should continue to gather data that would help it determine why callers are using the call center to seek answers to those most common topics rather than using the other self-service and noncall-center options EDD has made available. As part of its disposition coding it should include codes that indicate why the caller chose to call in rather than use other self-service/noncall-center options.

In May 2021, the Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Branch's UI Command Center Division (UICCD) developed a formal policy for tracking and analyzing the reasons why customers call the contact center. In accordance with the policy developed, the UICCD has reviewed the disposition code data used by contact center agents from June 1, 2021 through October 27, 2021 to identify improvements of the contact center, identify self-service and non-call center options, and provide contact center agents with targeted training modules.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed EDD's policy and the recent status update and found that EDD has established and followed a process to track and analyze reasons why claimants call for assistance. It has analyzed these data and determined that some of the disposition codes it was using were too high-level and did not truly determine the reason for a claimant's call. We believe EDD should continue this type of monitoring and analysis of the data it gathers to identify additional improvements in the ways it provides assistance to UI claimants. We will review EDD's progress at the next update to determine if new disposition codes have allowed it to improve its service options.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) has formed a workgroup to review and analyze the current disposition codes used by contact center agents. The workgroup completed their initial analysis and the newly proposed disposition codes are in final review before deploying to contact center agents. In addition to updating the current disposition codes utilized by contact center agents, the UICCD will be collaborating with the Branch Training Section to develop and deliver a training module to advise contact center agents of the importance of correctly dispositioning a call after service is provided to a customer. The UICCD continues to review and analyze the disposition codes used by contact center agents to leverage opportunities to assist customers through self-service and non-call center options.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We look forward to reviewing the newly proposed disposition codes that EDD finalizes and deploys to it contact center agents, as well as its analysis of those disposition codes and any actions it takes to revise its self-service and non-call center options.

In May 2021, the EDD's UI Command Center Division developed and implemented a policy that will track, analyze, and address the reasons why UI claimants call the contact center. The policy developed is comprised of the following elements:

-Disposition Code Analysis to ensure the intent is correct.

-Root Cause Analysis for a Customer's Inquiry

-Determine Operations Goals

-Determine Implementation Strategies (e.g., self-service options)

-Implementation Plan

By October 2021, the EDD's UI Command Center Division will begin analyzing the resulting data to improve the customer experience with specific focus on enhancements to self-service and non-call center options that assists customers, and identification of specialized training for staff to better assist callers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed the policy that EDD developed and found that it establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why UI claimants call for assistance. We look forward to reviewing in October the analysis EDD conducts and any resulting improvements to its processes.

The EDD is in the process of establishing a policy to track and periodically review the top reasons why UI claimants contact the UI Customer Service Center for assistance. The EDD plans to utilize the disposition codes provided by contact center agents to identify and propose self-service enhancements or non-call center options.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #13 To: Employment Development Department

To ensure that it is able to take informed steps to provide better customer service through improved call center performance, EDD should implement a formal policy by no later than May 2021 that establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why UI claimants call for assistance. By no later than October 2021, and every six months thereafter, EDD should analyze these data to improve its call center by doing the following:

-Developing specialized training modules to quickly train its call-center staff on the most commonly requested items with which callers want assistance.

In March 2022, the Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Branch's UI Command Center Division (UICCD) completed its quarterly analysis of disposition codes used by contact center agents from October 29, 2021, through January 29, 2022. Based on the completed analysis, the top reasons why customers are calling the contact center were identified to provide contact center agents with targeted training modules using the Knowledge Management System (KMS). On April 1, 2022, the KMS was updated to communicate that each week, the KMS will be updated to highlight a new disposition code and provide existing and new resources so staff can quickly access the reference materials to assist customers who are calling the contact center. Within the KMS, agents are provided with "articles" which provide a self-service option to guide a customer if they would like to continue on their own, or an assisted process to assist a customer. Additionally, the EDD continues to partner with the vendor, Emplifi, to continuously update the responses provided by the EDD Chatbot based on a customer's intent to provide a non-contact center channel to answer questions they may have on their benefit claim. After assessing the top reasons customers are calling the contact, the EDD is currently exploring "live" chat with customers as an additional non-contact center option to minimize the number of calls entering the contact center and improve the customer experience.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed the knowledge management system documentation EDD provided, including the example article that agents can access to provide additional information to callers. We found the documentation includes information about the most common reasons people call the call center. It appears that the knowledge management system provides the information necessary to quickly train call center agents on the most commonly requested items with which callers want assistance. If call center agents use the information from the knowledge management system, they should be able to quickly respond to callers' questions.

In May 2021, the Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Branch's UI Command Center Division (UICCD) developed a formal policy for tracking and analyzing the reasons why customers call the contact center. In accordance with the policy developed, the UICCD has reviewed the disposition code data used by contact center agents from June 1, 2021 through October 27, 2021 to identify improvements of the contact center, identify self-service and non-call center options, and provide contact center agents with targeted training modules.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed EDD's policy and the recent status update and found that EDD has established and followed a process to track and analyze reasons why claimants call for assistance. It has analyzed these data and determined that some of the disposition codes it was using were too high-level and did not truly determine the reason for a claimant's call. EDD modified some disposition codes to more meaningful codes. We believe that in its next quarterly review EDD should analyze the reasons for calls based on its new disposition codes and develop specialized training modules based on these more meaningful disposition codes.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) has formed a workgroup to review and analyze the current disposition codes used by contact center agents. The workgroup completed their initial analysis and the newly proposed disposition codes are in final review before deploying to contact center agents. In addition to updating the current disposition codes utilized by contact center agents, the UICCD will be collaborating with the Branch Training Section to develop and deliver a training module to advise contact center agents of the importance of correctly dispositioning a call after service is provided to a customer. The UICCD continues to review and analyze the disposition codes used by contact center agents to leverage opportunities to assist customers through self-service and non-call center options.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We look forward to reviewing the disposition code training module once EDD develops it. In addition, we look forward to seeing how the disposition codes assist EDD in developing additional trainings for its call center staff that could assist them in providing help to claimants who call EDD.

In May 2021, the EDD's UI Command Center Division developed and implemented a policy that will track, analyze, and address the reasons why UI claimants call the contact center. The policy developed is comprised of the following elements:

-Disposition Code Analysis to ensure the intent is correct.

-Root Cause Analysis for a Customer's Inquiry

-Determine Operations Goals

-Determine Implementation Strategies (e.g., self-service options)

-Implementation Plan

By October 2021, the EDD's UI Command Center Division will begin analyzing the resulting data to improve the customer experience with specific focus on enhancements to self-service and non-call center options that assists customers, and identification of specialized training for staff to better assist callers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed the policy that EDD developed and found that it establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why UI claimants call for assistance. We look forward to reviewing in October the analysis EDD conducts and any resulting adjustments or revisions to the training it provides to its call-center staff.

The EDD plans to use the established policy for the top reasons why UI claimants contact the UI Customer Service Center to develop effective training modules. The data collected from the disposition codes provided by contact center agents will be utilized to inform and train contact center agents to quickly assist UI customers as new emerging trends and issues present themselves. The UI Branch Training Section will develop a policy to analyze the training for those issues to ensure current and clear training. In addition, the UI Branch Training Section will collaborate with the UI Command Center Division regarding the training-related materials most commonly used by staff to compare the accuracy of the disposition code data.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #14 To: Employment Development Department

To assess the effectiveness of its call center, by May 2021 EDD should implement a policy for tracking and monitoring its rate of first-call resolution. EDD should review first-call resolution data at least monthly to evaluate whether it is providing effective assistance to callers.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has implemented the Every Customer Has Opinions (ECHO) Survey on January 19, 2022. The ECHO Survey is an after-call survey that allows select customers calling into the Virtual Contact Center (VCC) platform to provide feedback regarding first-call resolution, representative professionalism, and representative knowledge and experience. Additionally, the ECHO survey will allow customers to leave a 90-second recording about their experience with the UIB during their call. On February 23, 2022, the UIB implemented the ECHO Survey in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The UIB will use the ECHO Survey results to improve first-call resolution, provide targeted agent training, and recognize good customer service efforts. When a customer is offered to provide feedback via the ECHO Survey, they will be automatically sent to the survey after their current call ends. However, if the customer opts into the survey and the call is disconnected the customer will receive a callback at the number they provided when opting into the survey within two to three minutes from the call being disconnected.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed documentation and data provided by EDD of its ECHO survey and data of its first call resolution percentages for January and February. Based on these sources of data, it appears EDD has useful information to evaluate whether it is providing effective assistance to callers and identify opportunities for improvement.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division has worked in collaboration with the Information Technology Branch (ITB) to provide the after-call survey questions that focus on first-call resolution, as well as, a 90-second option for customers to provide feedback regarding the experience with the Unemployment Insurance Branch. The after-call survey prompts have been provided to the ITB and the project is on track for implementation by January 31, 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) has begun tracking and monitoring its First Call Resolution (FCR) data associated with the FCR policy developed in May 2021. The UICCD has also identified an after-call survey technological solution to align with the FCR policy and data. The UICCD has collaborated with the Information Technology Branch to implement the "Every Customer Has Opinions" automated survey into the Virtual Contact Center platform.

To address the comments provided by the California State Auditor, the UICCD has also attached a copy of the FCR report for August 2021 titled, "First Call Resolution Metrics (August 2021).pdf".

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We have reviewed the FCR report EDD provided from August 2021 and are encouraged EDD has begun collecting these data. We look forward to EDD providing additional data and its evaluation of whether these data indicate it is providing effective assistance to callers as well as any actions it intends to take in response to the data. We also look forward to the results of the automated survey EDD indicates it has implemented.

In May 2021, the EDD's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division has developed a First Call Resolution (FCR) policy and will continue to research technological capabilities to support the FCR policy, which will include an after-call survey to align with the October 2021 date to determine whether the EDD is providing effective assistance to its customers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed the policy that EDD has developed for tracking and monitoring its rate of first-call resolution. As of this assessment date, EDD has not provided evidence it is reviewing the first-call resolution data. We look forward to reviewing the department's efforts in this area and EDD's evaluation of its effectiveness at providing assistance to callers.

The EDD is currently working to develop and refine policy to track and monitor First Call Resolution data by May 31, 2021.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #15 To: Employment Development Department

To maximize the number of calls that its staff are able to answer, as soon as possible EDD should add the prerecorded message functionality to its new phone system to advise claimants of their rights and responsibilities after they file their claim with an agent.

The EDD is currently working to implement benefit claim filing wrap-up messages. The claim filing wrap-up messages were deployed into production on April 12, 2021. The EDD is still conducting User Acceptance Testing and is on track to implement this recommendation by April 30, 2021. When the final validation and UAT is successful, after a UI claim is filed or reopened by phone, the wrap-up messages will be automatically played to a claimant, allowing agents to move onto the next customer call.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed documentation indicating that the prerecorded message functionality was added to the new phone system and operational, and that user acceptance testing had been completed.

Recommendation #16 To: Employment Development Department

To provide a more convenient customer experience, as soon as possible EDD should implement those features of its new phone system that allow callers to request a callback from an agent instead of waiting on hold for assistance.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) has enhanced the functionality of its Virtual Contact Center (VCC) platform and has implemented the "virtual hold" feature which now provides a customer with the option to request a callback if the Estimated Wait Time exceeds 15 minutes within a VCC queue. The "virtual hold" functionality is available in each of the existing available languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD provided us documentation of its notification to its staff that the virtual hold functionality had been implemented.

The EDD is currently working to implement "virtual hold." The EDD has developed the functional requirements and provided them to Verizon to implement into the Virtual Contact Center (VCC). The EDD has conducted User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and deployment occurred on April 20, 2021. The initial "go live" will be for one queue, "Engl Claims Regular." Once the behavior of the system is observed, additional VCC queues will have the "virtual hold" functionality added to them with a target completion date for all VCC queues by May 31, 2021. This feature will improve the customer experience so a call back can be made to a customer, rather than waiting on hold for assistance.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed documentation that EDD provided demonstrating that the virtual hold was implemented and operational for regular English language claims. However, it has not yet been implemented for other languages.

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that EDD is better prepared to provide effective services and assistance to Californians during future economic downturns, the Legislature should amend state law to require EDD to develop a recession plan that takes into account the lessons learned from previous economic downturns, including the pandemic. At a minimum, the Legislature should require EDD's plan to include the following:

-The indicators EDD will monitor and use to project the likely upcoming workload that it will face.
-The steps EDD will take to address increases in its workload, such as cross-training non-UI staff, changing its staffing levels, prioritizing specific tasks, and adjusting the way it performs certain work.
-The altered policies or procedures that EDD will activate if a rise in UI claims becomes significant enough to warrant that step.

The Legislature should require EDD to develop the plan within 12 months of the effective date of the related change to state law. To address new developments in UI processes, programs, or other relevant conditions, the Legislature should require EDD to update its recession plan at least every three years thereafter.

Description of Legislative Action

SB 390 (Chapter 543, Statutes of 2021) requires EDD to develop and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, implement a recession plan to prepare for an increase in unemployment insurance compensation benefits claims due to an economic recession. The plan shall detail how to respond to economic downturns with a predetermined strategy that has considered the full effect on EDD's operations, and include, but not be limited to, identifying the lessons learned from previous economic downturns, identifying ways to improve self-serve services to avoid long wait times to speak to staff, and enhancing claims processing tools to ensure that the EDD's identity verification processes are as robust as possible. EDD is required to provide a copy of the recession plan to specified legislative committees and the Department of Finance by March 1, 2022, and to update the recession plan and provide a copy to specified legislative committees and Finance every second year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would, among other provisions, require EDD to develop a recession plan so that it is well prepared to provide services during future economic downturns.

SB 232 (Nielsen, 2021) would, in part, would require EDD to create model workload projections that account for possible scenarios that may cause a sudden increase in unemployment insurance claims. The bill would require the workload projection assessments to occur quarterly in order for EDD to plan staffing adjustments in accordance with the likelihood of those scenarios. EDD would also be required to have a contingency plan for less likely scenarios that may have a significant impact on the department's workload.

SB 390 (Laird, 2021) would require EDD to develop and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, implement a comprehensive plan to prepare for an increase in unemployment insurance compensation benefits claims due to an economic recession. The plan would be required to detail how to respond to economic downturns with a predetermined strategy that has considered the full effect on EDD's operations, and include, but not be limited to, identifying the lessons learned from previous economic downturns, identifying ways to improve self-serve services to avoid long wait times to speak to staff, and enhancing claims processing tools to ensure that EDD's identity verification processes are as robust as possible. The bill would require EDD to provide a copy of the comprehensive plan to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance by March 1, 2022, and to update the comprehensive plan and provide a copy to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance every second year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would, among other provisions, require EDD to develop a recession plan so that it is well prepared to provide services during future economic downturns.

SB 390 (Laird, 2021) would require EDD to develop and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, implement a comprehensive plan to prepare for an increase in unemployment insurance compensation benefits claims due to an economic recession. The plan would be required to detail how to respond to economic downturns with a predetermined strategy that has considered the full effect on EDD's operations, and include, but not be limited to, identifying the lessons learned from previous economic downturns, identifying ways to improve self-serve services to avoid long wait times to speak to staff, and enhancing claims processing tools to ensure that EDD's identity verification processes are as robust as possible. The bill would require EDD to provide a copy of the comprehensive plan to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance by March 1, 2022, and to update the comprehensive plan and provide a copy to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance every 2nd year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

SB 390 (Laird) would require EDD to develop and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, implement a comprehensive plan to prepare for an increase in unemployment insurance compensation benefits claims due to an economic recession. The plan would be required to detail how to respond to economic downturns with a predetermined strategy that has considered the full effect on EDD's operations, and include, but not be limited to, identifying the lessons learned from previous economic downturns, identifying ways to improve self-serve services to avoid long wait times to speak to staff, and enhancing claims processing tools to ensure that EDD's identity verification processes are as robust as possible. The bill would require EDD to provide a copy of the comprehensive plan to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance by March 1, 2022, and to update the comprehensive plan and provide a copy to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance every 2nd year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced

All Recommendations in 2020-128/628.1

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.