New ID Verification tool helping Californians seeking unemployment benefits

SACRAMENTO (KUSI) – California’s Employment Development Department has cleared up more claims, and this means additional unemployment checks are on the way.

The agency has cleared about 246,000 of its more than 1.6 million backlog claims.

The EDD began accepting new unemployment benefit applications following a two-week reset where it halted new applications and updated its technology.

Since March, California has processed more than 13 million claims, paying close to $94 billion in unemployment benefits.

Now the Unemployment Development Department has announced the successful installation of a new identity verification tool that is helping speed the processing of new claims.

Employment Attorney Annie Ellis, from Annie Ellis Law, explained the benefits of this tool.