馃攳
CA EDD Unemployment Appeal Info From an Attorney - How to Prepare for an Appeal, Timeline, More - YouTube
Channel: Ginny Silver - Business Coach for Creatives
[0]
Hey, guys, it's Ginny Silver.
[1]
And today I'm talking with Assaf Lichtash from Pershing Square
[4]
Law firm.
[5]
Assaf
[6]
Can you let me know, just in short, what your company does,
[10]
what your law firm offers and who you work with?
[13]
Well, we are.
[14]
California is only Edd law firm.
[17]
We deal with pretty much anything that has to do with the
[21]
Edd. But primarily, we represent individuals in appealing
[24]
denied Edd benefits.
[25]
Think it's important to point out that while I am an attorney
[28]
and I work with a law firm that represent individuals who
[32]
have issues with the Edd, nothing that's being said here is
[36]
being said as a legal advice.
[38]
What this is for is really to educate the public and provide
[42]
information for my own experiences to help people understand
[46]
their situation, assess their situation, and really just
[50]
educate themselves about what their claims, what could be
[57]
wrong with your claims, and how they can get to receiving
[59]
their anything.
[60]
But if it's faster, what sort of documents should they have
[63]
prepared? How should they prepare themselves before or during
[67]
that process?
[68]
Right.
[69]
So whenever you follow an appeal, first of all, people should
[73]
notifying. An appeal is free.
[75]
Okay?
[75]
The whole process is completely free.
[77]
You don't have to pay anything.
[78]
There's no, you know, court fees, there's no filing fees,
[81]
none of that stuff.
[82]
All you have to do is pay for the postage of sending the
[85]
appeal later.
[86]
As far as what I would recommend, first of all, to increase
[93]
your appeals are like number gates.
[96]
Okay?
[96]
It's about making sure you have the highest possible chance.
[99]
And there are many, many factors in place to determine what
[102]
your chances are.
[103]
Right?
[103]
It starts with what you do in your case.
[106]
But the nature of your case is how many documents you have
[109]
to back up what you have to say, you know, your judge.
[113]
That's a big deal, how you prepare for it.
[116]
So on.
[116]
So in order to increase your chance of success, you can take
[120]
a few steps that will definitely do that.
[122]
The first thing is value appeal on time.
[124]
This, for example.
[125]
Okay.
[125]
That has a bunch of numbers and money on it.
[127]
There's another side to it.
[129]
Read the other side.
[131]
The other side is actually telling you about your appeal.
[133]
Right?
[133]
This is something that you want to consider.
[136]
There's a deadline.
[137]
Now, if you miss a deadline and you file an appeal late,
[141]
there's still a possibility that your appeal will be considered
[144]
if it was like, for good cause.
[145]
But don't put yourself up for the net position.
[148]
Right?
[148]
File the appeal in time so that you can you enjoy the certainty
[151]
that your case will be reviewed on the merits and not be
[154]
dismissed for some silly procedural issue that was totally
[157]
avoidable. Second thing is, everything you say you're going
[162]
to be testifying under oath when you discuss things with
[165]
a judgment.
[166]
When you test the Finder.
[167]
Oh, that in and of itself is value is evidence, right?
[170]
Sworn testimony.
[171]
It has a strong value as evidence.
[175]
But you have to understand, the judge is sitting there listening
[178]
to a lot of stories from a lot of people like you, and they
[182]
want to know.
[183]
Or I'm sure the question process their mind about whether
[185]
what you're saying is actually true.
[187]
So you can increase the chance of being found credible by
[193]
supporting what we say with some documents.
[195]
You don't have to have a document support every word that
[197]
comes out of your file, but you should have some documents
[200]
to support generally, you know, the main ideas of what you're
[204]
saying a lot of times, documents that can help are W 2 10
[209]
89 Pay Stubs Right.
[211]
These are documents that we really see being busy in hearings.
[215]
It really depends on the nature of the hearing, what the
[218]
issues are.
[219]
Right.
[220]
I would recommend that you read closely the notice of hearing
[223]
that you get and understand what the issues are to determine
[227]
what you're going to say in advance and then find documents
[229]
to back it up so that you can come off as credible at a facet
[233]
of credibility to whatever it is you're saying.
[235]
Send the documents ahead of time because the cab is very
[239]
busy and the Pills Born Califon Trips Pills Board, they're
[244]
very busy.
[245]
And it may take there may be a gap for you between the time
[248]
that you send the documents and the time the judge actually
[250]
receives them and gets to review them.
[252]
To be aware of that, I would say if you can, whenever you
[258]
get denied benefits, there's a legal basis for your deli.
[261]
Read and understand the law.
[264]
It may not be what you think it is.
[266]
There may be a totally different legal mechanism than what
[269]
you're anticipating that will determine whether you're going
[272]
to get benefits or not.
[273]
So spend the time to understand.
[275]
Okay.
[275]
Sometimes there are multiple laws in play, right?
[278]
There's an interaction between just one thing.
[281]
There are three bodies of law that that really govern the
[284]
salt. And the main one is done info Insurance, Pills Board.
[286]
And then there's the California Code regulations, Title 22
[290]
that deals with all the, you know, things that have to do
[293]
with hearings and equal standards around this hearing really
[296]
interpret a lot of the things that are in the appeals that
[299]
the unemployment insurance code.
[302]
And then there's also the government code, some of the things
[305]
I have to do with the Edd.
[306]
So, you know, sometimes there's an interplay between those,
[310]
and you need to sort of get into it.
[311]
And if it's too complicated, of course, maybe getting representation
[314]
is there's a good idea.
[315]
But certainly in some cases, it's simple enough for you to
[317]
do it yourself.
[318]
So if you want to increase your chance of success, spend
[322]
the time doing that.
[323]
Insurance Appeals Board has a monthly meeting.
[327]
Very interesting for Unity Nerds.
[330]
For me, like me to watch and they go over the different things
[334]
and trends and changes that are happening with their system.
[337]
One of the things that came up is, you know, they're saying
[340]
that it takes eight weeks for the easy to process an appeal.
[344]
So imagine if you are receiving a disqualification letter.
[347]
This is the process you have to go through.
[349]
You have to wait eight weeks for the AI to actually transmit
[351]
the appeal from them to the appeals board.
[355]
Send the appeals board, which is already flat with appeals,
[357]
has to find a time for hearing, which will take weeks.
[360]
Eight weeks to transmit.
[362]
Just to transmit just to transmit is eight weeks.
[365]
Wow.
[366]
That it's complete idle time.
[369]
So a lot of things could happen to those eight weeks.
[372]
It would promote your case, and you wouldn't have to wait
[375]
as well.
[375]
And then after a decision is made, it takes sent for the
[380]
easy to implement that as well, and you may be subject to
[384]
an additional review.
[385]
So the discussion was, how can we narrow that time frame
[392]
of eight weeks?
[393]
Is there anything we can do?
[394]
So they discuss possibly having people file appeal directly
[398]
with the appeals board instead of finding them with Ed.
[401]
That requires some change in the regulations, because the
[403]
regulations say you have to pay the Department the Edd, not
[406]
with the appeals board.
[407]
So the chair of the Board of Appeals, Marty Block, asked
[413]
their attorney, what happens if the Edd is supposed to transfer
[419]
quickly? Only according to the law.
[422]
What happens if they don't transfer properties?
[424]
There anything they can do to penalize the and the answer
[426]
is no, they can't do anything to be in it.
[428]
And I think that's quite essentially why we're here, because,
[431]
you know, there is no price for inefficacy.
[437]
There is no price to be paid for bad results.
[441]
So with appeals, you referenced the time frame of once it
[445]
is transmitted, it can take up to eight weeks for it to be
[449]
received. Did I get that correct?
[451]
Yes.
[452]
Unfortunately, you got it right.
[453]
Okay.
[454]
So after that eight week period when it is received, what's
[460]
the time frame following that happens is after eight weeks,
[463]
the appeals board received notice of transit that there's
[467]
an individual, a claimant, file, an appeal, and they get
[470]
a file.
[471]
The file contains basically the entire universe of documents
[474]
that have made the Edd make the decision that they made.
[477]
It has usually claim notes, which is a whole history of all
[480]
your phone call and all the actions and activities that have
[483]
to happen in your case.
[484]
It has the documents that were submitted by you or documents
[489]
that the Add used to consider your benefits, any summaries
[493]
of interviews that they have with you, pretty much everything
[496]
that I do with your claim.
[497]
So when they get it, the CIB gets it.
[502]
They need to set up a hearing date.
[504]
Now, it takes a long time because there's so many hearings
[507]
and you can only reduce the time of hearing so much because
[512]
it is a timely process or at a time consuming process.
[517]
So you can expect to wait at least this time of year for
[522]
several weeks before you even get a hearing date.
[525]
I would say four to 6 weeks is a reasonable time frame to
[528]
wait. So we're talking about eight weeks plus four to 6 weeks
[531]
waiting on hearing date.
[532]
Okay.
[533]
When you get a hearing date, you're notified 10 days or the
[536]
notice of hearing, and the file that I just talked about
[539]
are sent over to you, and you received that.
[543]
They're sent over to you 10 days before the hearing.
[544]
You receive them probably a week before the hearing, and
[547]
then you just need to start preparing.
[548]
Okay.
[549]
I mean, sending documents, identifying them, figuring out
[552]
what the law is to figure out what you're going to say, and
[554]
so on.
[555]
Right now, all the hearings are done over the phone.
[558]
It used to be that the hearings were done in person because
[560]
the edemic and social distancing, they're all done over the
[562]
phone by default.
[563]
There's no need to request it.
[566]
Then the hearing takes place and the judge needs to make
[569]
a decision that might not happen.
[571]
It's not going to happen right away.
[572]
It's going to happen now.
[574]
The judges are really, really effective, and they do it very
[577]
fast. Usually the decision is rendered within a few days,
[581]
and then it's faxed over back to the Edd.
[584]
When it's faxed back over to the units, it's back in the
[586]
rabbit hole.
[587]
I mean, who knows when they're going to respond to it?
[590]
But I found it at least now, at this point in time, it's
[593]
going through additional reviews because of what we talked
[596]
about earlier, the Edd has turned off the eligibility and
[599]
all the automatic screening systems during the epidemic.
[603]
So if your claim is pre 2,021, I would anticipate that it's
[608]
going to go through an additional review and you won't be
[611]
paid right away, even if you have a favorable determination.
[614]
And that's how you have realities that are created, like
[616]
what I described to you earlier, one of my clients who has
[619]
paid zero dollars from the beginning of the epidemic March
[622]
20 and 20 until now, because you have to go to jump through
[626]
all these hoops.
[627]
It was such a long time.
[628]
Would there be any appeal specific phone number or contact
[633]
information aside from the general customer service line?
[636]
That claimant should be calling if they need to check on
[639]
the status of their appeal, or is it all done through the
[642]
main customer service line?
[643]
Okay.
[644]
So once your appeal is transmitted to the CIP by the Add,
[647]
you'll receive a notice of acknowledgement in the mail, typically.
[650]
Okay.
[651]
Not of the time, but certainly most of the time.
[653]
And it's going to tell you in which appeals office your appeal
[657]
is in, and you can call the Peel office and ask them when
[661]
I'm going to get a hearing that they'll give you an estimate.
[663]
Okay.
[664]
The appeals offices are very accessible.
[668]
There is no significant waiting time for them.
[671]
They answer questions.
[673]
They have always a judge on duty who is able to answer more
[678]
specific or complicated legal questions or anything like
[681]
that. But generally, the people are friendly, helpful and
[686]
informative. But we have to also keep in mind they're limited.
[690]
They can only help you with your appeal.
[691]
They can't fix your problem.
[693]
They're not the if you can't log in to your UI online or
[697]
if you're pending forever.
[698]
And another thing that Unfortunately they can't do is they
[701]
cannot enforce the decision.
[704]
So if you have a favorable decision and now you're waiting
[708]
on the age to actually process it and pay you the money,
[712]
calling the IV about this is not going to make a difference.
[716]
I just don't have the legal authority to do that.
[718]
So while your case is an appeal, you can expect a relatively
[722]
open, transparent and efficient process, the one that goes
[725]
back to the Edd.
[726]
You're back in this black hole of information.
[729]
I have to pretty much find the information for self or use
[734]
the help of content that's online.
[738]
Once it has been processed, you had your appeal, you had
[741]
the decision in your favor.
[743]
Is there any sort of time frame for the Ed to then apply
[746]
that to your account that you've seen?
[748]
Right.
[748]
So the law again says that the time frame is promptly and
[753]
promptly means as soon as possible.
[756]
Now, there's another thing it says once it's determined you're
[759]
eligible, they have to dispense the money.
[761]
Frankly, paying is not hard.
[763]
They can do that with a full on the switch.
[766]
I think that's what I've seen, at least.
[767]
But the question is, do they really find you eligible when
[772]
there's a question whether you're eligible?
[775]
If they haven't gone through eligibility screening earlier
[778]
in your claim?
[778]
If your claim predates 20 21, it's very likely that the eligibility
[783]
screen goes off.
[784]
So they have a reason to believe that you might not be eligible.
[787]
And they can put it through another process.
[789]
So they're not bound by any specific time frame.
[792]
And as long as it takes to legal stand point, it can give
[798]
as long as it takes to what issues are.
[800]
Alright.
[801]
Well, thank you so much for answering so many of those questions.
[804]
I really appreciate your time.
[805]
Can you just real quick give us a quick recap of where claimants
[809]
can locate you if they're interested in obtaining more information
[812]
about your services and your firm.
[814]
So the best place to reach us is on our website, www dot
[818]
pushing square law dot com.
[821]
And we have chat phone pretty much a bunch of ways to get
[825]
a hold of us.
[825]
So we're available for our business hours Monday through
[829]
Friday. Thank you so much.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage