California lawmakers are criticizing the California Employment Development Department over delays in processing legitimate claims and massive fraud that could total more than $30 billion dollars. New EDD Director Rita Saenz testified Wednesday that the department needs a lot of help.
Saenz was brought in a month ago to fix things and told a joint legislative hearing that EDD has been plagued with old technology and business processes for years. She said the massive influx of new claims a year ago brought on by the pandemic exposed the scope of the problems, and led to relaxing some security protocols that left the department vulnerable to fraud.