Marty Morgenstern, secretary of the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency, said Wednesday the extraordinary measure could eliminate a backlog of about 80,000 claims by Tuesday.
Morgenstern told EDD Chief Deputy Director Sharon Hilliard in a memorandum the previous evening that without such action “it is unlikely that the claims backlog will be reduced quickly enough to respond to the very real financial hardship now being experienced by too many of our residents relying on timely payment of their UI benefits.”
Morgenstern said, “Consequently, I am directing EDD to immediately begin the process of paying backlogged claims for continued UI benefits prior to a final determination of eligibility.”