OOPS! They Did It Again! EDD, Job Training, Benefits Delayed & For Some, Opportunity Lost
 12/15/09 04:36 PM |By curtislwalker

Just when EDD seems to have checks headed out to the 100K plus long term unemployed comes word of another problem due to Unemployment Insurance delays in approval for those to be retrained.

Headline: Caught between benefits, training system seems to penalize jobless seeking new work from the Modesto Bee this past Saturday.

The report details how some unemployed are afraid to enter into training programs, so they can find work in a new industry, because of delays by the EDD Unemployment Insurance program to approve participation will cost them their unemployment benefits.

To get a new job, they need vocational training. But if they get training, they might lose their unemployment check. If they lose their unemployment, they won't have the means to support themselves, because they've lost their jobs. And therein lies the problem.

Sound like CATCH-22 to you? It gets worst!

"These are people who are trying to do the right thing. They've done their homework. They've found an area where there is hiring going on," said Blake Konczal, executive director of the Fresno County Workforce Investment Board, whose mission is to steer the unemployed into promising careers.

"The system should be designed to help them. In some instances, it is not."

In short, people who could benefit from training aren't signing up for fear they will lose their unemployment checks.

Heard this before?

State Employment Development Department officials say they are aware of the problems -- which are occurring statewide -- and are working to fix them. But in the meantime, some unemployed workers who need training are going without, even though there are services available.

California State Senator and Majority Leader Dean Florez (D) Shafter, when he learned of this new EDD problem blasted the Governor and EDDs actions, stating, "This Administration has been well aware of the shortcomings at EDD and has failed to act in a way that protects the working people of this state. The Governor may be in a position to decline a paycheck or hop from high-profile career to high-profile career on a whim, but the reality for most Californians is they are a few paychecks - at most - from true desperation. We need to be doing everything within our power to encourage and make it possible for people to re-enter the workforce and regain the financial stability that comes along with that."

Full Story at the Modesto Bee - Link: http://www.modbee.com/business/story/969914.html
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