Shared by: Adria Tennor
Dial the number:
(800) 300-5616
When you call if you hear a man’s voice say, “Thank you for calling the Employment….” > just hang up and call again. You will get this recording 29 times out of 30.
If you call and you hear a man’s voice say “Welcome….blah blah blah” YOU’RE IN THE FIRST ROUND! Also this recording can take a few seconds to kick in so if you call and don’t hear anything, just give it a few seconds. This guy is going to tell you to press “1” for English or “2” for Spanish. Press 1! (Unless you speak Spanish and then I don’t know what to tell you so stop reading and find a different solution…)
Then a woman’s voice will come on and tell you how due to current events it’s better to go online, blah blah blah. You’ll have to wait for her to finish her schpiel. I could not complete my application online bc I had worked out of state so if there’s any reason why you can’t complete online - continue on here. If you can go online and complete the DEF DO THAT!!!!
Then a man will list a series of options - you don’t have to wait for all of them. As soon as he starts talking press “5” (This is prob not the correct answer for you BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER< JUST HIT 5!)
Then he’ll come back on with some more options - just press “1” again.
Then he’ll come back with even MORE options - press “1” again
Then another man will come on and list even MORE options - this time press 0
Then the system will either:
Option 1 - (most likely) ….take you to another recording that will tell you that due to the high number of calls they can’t take you call right now and it will freaking HANG UP ON YOU - DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE! Just call back and go through all of this again! You will get through!
Option 2 - it will give you an estimated wait time - BOTH times I made it to this point, the recorded voice told me my estimated wait time was 4 minutes. The first time I was on hold for 35 minutes and right at noon it sounded like someone answered my call but then hung up. The second time I was on hold for 50 minutes AND SOMEONE FINALLY ANSWERED!! And he was so freaking nice. I asked him if I could give him my phone number in case we got disconnected and he said yes and he also turned off his calls so he wouldn’t get another call right away if we got disconnected and that way he could call me back. Once on the phone, the whole call took about 15 minutes. I needed my driver’s license ID # - I needed to tell him the last day/week I got paid and the amount of money I made that week.
Then they will mail you a claim form to fill out with your EDD account number - with this you may then ACCESS YOUR ACOUNT ONLINE. I’d recommend doing that to expedite things. ALSO - the person who helped me said my claim for would arrive in three days. It took TEN DAYS - prob bc they are so backed up - but keep faith!