An East Bay woman is in the midst of an unemployment claim nightmare.
Lisa Young of Antioch is dealing with delays and attempted fraud.
When Young was laid off in late August, the office coordinator applied for unemployment. Since then, she has received nearly 50 letters from the Employment Development Department, but not a single one was addressed to her. Young is still waiting for her claim, and as it turns out, someone else has already filed several claims using her name.
"They told me that I had to clear out the fraud before I could file a claim," Young said.
The letters Young received were addressed to several different people and some even contained EDD cars, presumable offering access to funds.
Despite daily calls and emails to the EDD, Young hasn't received a response. In the meantime, she's burning though her savings.
"I’m having to go get food boxes and I'm having to apply for food stamps, which is something I’ve never ever done in my life," she said.
Local
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday acknowledged that unemployment fraud is an issue, one that will be addressed during the next two weeks after the state puts a pause on processing new claims and implements a new ID system.
"This will process about 90% automatically of all of the new applications," Newsom said. "You'll have requirements under this automated system to do selfies, to provide additional verification."
Young is not convinced the two week reset will help her resolve her claim.
"I would love to drop all this mail in someone's lap at the EDD and have them explain to me why these people are getting money and I paid in and I'm not," she said.
