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California UI Appeals Board reports falling backlog, says second-level review exceeded federal timeliness standards
Summary
At its April 16 meeting the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board heard reports that monthly dispositions increased and overall inventory and case age have declined; second-level review reported it exceeded U.S. Department of Labor timeliness benchmarks for the year ending March 31.
The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board heard reports April 16 that appeals dispositions rose in March, inventories fell and the board’s second-level review unit exceeded Department of Labor timeliness benchmarks for the federal year ending March 31.
Chief Judge and Executive Director Michael Koutre told the board the agency closed 1,070 cases recently, with 1,012 processed through the CAMS system and 58 through legacy processes. He said the field issued 25,800 decisions in March and that overall inventory fell by about 3,000 cases; average case age decreased three days to 47 days.
Koutre said the board moved 1,300 cases across offices since the last meeting to reduce local disparities in wait times and that, while the federal standard for case age is 30 days, the agency is "in striking distance" of that goal over the next six to nine months.
Judge Bach, chief of appellate operations, presented second-level review results for the Department of Labor (DOL) year. He reported that for March the second-level unit closed 64.1 percent of cases within 45 days and 92.4 percent within 75 days; for the DOL year ending March 31 the unit closed 65.9 percent within 45 days and 93.4 percent within 75 days. He also reported an end-of-year case-aging average of 34.2 days, below the DOL 40-day benchmark. Bach contrasted those figures with national averages he cited: national case aging for the field at 191 days and a national second-level average of 153 days.
Board members asked questions about judge staffing, use of retired annuitants and how the board forecasts appeals following changes in unemployment claims. Koutre said the board hired a large cohort of judges after the pandemic, retained a substantial share, and had better forecasting and communications with the Employment Development Department and U.S. Department of Labor to anticipate future claim and appeals volumes. He said the agency is better positioned than in 2020 to ramp up if claims spike again.
Several board members praised the agency’s progress and asked staff to continue reporting monthly metrics. No formal policy changes or votes on programmatic matters were taken during the discussion.
