California has halted new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims for the next two weeks following allegations of widespread fraud.
The PUA program is sponsored by the federal government as part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress, which intends to extend unemployment assistance to self-employed individuals, contractors, and people working in the gig economy.
In recent weeks, California has received a surge in questionable PUA claims, including 21 inmates in San Mateo County, Calif. jail who reportedly received over $250,000 in benefits from the program.
Governor Gavin Newsom established a Strike Team to help improve the systems of the California Employment Development Department (EDD) and to investigate fraud allegations.
In its report, the Strike Team said, “While millions of claims for unemployment benefits have been processed on time, this record volume of claims produced a workload that challenged EDD’s infrastructure and left many thousands of Californians frustrated due to their inability to reach a representative for help or a status update on their claim.”
