KESQ helps La Quinta veteran get through to Chad Mayes’ office for EDD assistance

KESQ helps La Quinta veteran get through to Chad Mayes office for EDD assistance

Since the pandemic hit there have been 4.1 million unemployment claims made through the state’s Employment Development Department.
News Channel 3’s Caitlin Thropay was able to help support a local veteran in need who has had no luck getting through to anyone to assist with his claim.

“I was a combat engineer in the united states marine corps,” Kriss Ashbaugh said.

Ashbaugh, 46, is a disabled veteran living in La Quinta who is struggling to make ends meet after losing his job due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I had a job since I was 12 years old," Ashbaugh said. "It was ingrained in me to be a hard worker. I never imagined anything like this would happen,” he added.

Ashbaugh filed for unemployment nearly two months ago for the first time in his life through the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD).

“I’m sure I’m not the only person out there wondering, ‘why am I not receiving benefits?' I feel like I’m going to die of a heart attack, rather than COVID-19 at this point,” Ashbaugh explained.

He said he is worried his claim might have gotten lost in the system. He has been calling EDD as well as sending messages to them through their online portal every day. He also tried calling his representatives but hasn’t had any luck getting it fixed.

Ashbaugh reached out to KESQ for help. We were able to get his case through to the office of assemblyman Chad Mayes.

“We’ve had quite a number of folks who’ve run into the same issues and it’s honestly pretty sad to hear from all these folks and we’ve gotten hundreds of calls a day since you guys ran our phone number the other day and there’s four of us here in the office trying to sort through them all,” Greg Wallis with the office of Chad Mayes said on the phone.

“We’d like to be able to at least open up an inquiry through EDD and try and be helpful here,” Wallis added.

“Wow, that’s awesome. That makes me feel better,” Ashbaugh said at the end of the phone call.

15 minutes after the phone call, Ashbaugh received a personal email from Chad Mayes’ office.

“To hear from them is uplifting and to know they can at least make an inquiry. I’ve made inquiries myself through their system maybe coming from assemblyman Chad Mayes office might do the trick for me and other’s like me. Sounds like I’m not the only one,” Ashbaugh said.

State officials admit there has been a backlog at EDD and are taking several measures to address them.

For help applying for California's unemployment assistance visit: https://www.edd.ca.gov/

You can call California's district office: (760) 346-6342

If you are still having trouble getting through, reach out to Greg Wallis: greg.wallis@asm.ca.gov