SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - While California continues to be inundated with unemployment claims, some locals seeking disability benefits feel like they're being left behind. 10News spoke to a pregnant San Diego nurse who says that filing for a disability claim has been a nightmare.
Nikole from Serra Mesa is 38 weeks pregnant. The military wife tells 10News that she's still working as a nurse to make ends meet for her family.
“I'm just one person. I'm just one citizen in California. There's millions of people here. I just wanted to get someone's attention for some help,” she explains.
She's says that in mid-April her physician instructed her to file her disability claim which she did, but after hearing all the news about the state drowning in unemployment claims, she grew nervous and tried calling about her own claim. However, she says her multiple daily calls continued to go unanswered by live agents. She says she had luck online or at the Employment Development Department (EED) office, either.
“I even sent an email to Governor Newsom's office the same day that I contacted you,” she explains.
Her financial concerns kept growing.
“I even considered after a week of having my baby trying to go back to work for a few hours even though I know that wouldn't be medically responsible of me,” she adds.
This Wednesday, she says an agent with the EDD called to say her claim was incomplete and she needs to resubmit it after she goes on leave.
She says she's sure that she's not alone in her frustration with trying to get help from state officials. “They're focusing so much on unemployment. They also need to focus on the other programs that they have as well,” she adds.
On the EDD website, it reports that it usually takes 14 days to determine eligibility over a claim. According to the EDD, your claim begins when you start losing wages and your doctor confirms you're unable to work.
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