California’s embattled unemployment benefits agency said yesterday (Wednesday) that it has cleared about 246,000 of its more than 1.6 million backlogged claims. That followed a two-week period where it stopped taking new applications so it could improve its technology.
But the agency said it would be January before it clears the backlog. This has frustrated state lawmakers who questioned the agency’s director during a legislative hearing on Wednesday. Sharon Hilliard, executive director of the Employment Development Department, said some people have been waiting as long as five months to get benefits.
A report last month showed 1.6 million people were still waiting on claims.
