EDD misclassifies Bay Area woman struggling to get benefits for 15 months

Tuesday, March 16, 2021
RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- A Richmond woman wants everyone to know she's not a number, but that's how she feels after struggling more than a year to apply for unemployment assistance.

Kristin Boatner first applied in January of last year.
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She's still waiting.

"I've had no income at all. My savings got me through the first couple months, but that's it," she said. Her voice cracks under the strain of uncertainty.

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"Just the stress of like, not knowing if we're going to be literally homeless and a pandemic. You know. It's been a lot," said Boatner.



Her misfortune started when EDD somehow classified her as an employer rather than an employee.

Her calls for help went nowhere for 11 months.

"All I did was call until I connected with Mary in November," she said.
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Mary is a district representative of Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks. Wicks's office immediately cleared up the mistake of Kristin being classified as an employer.

But there would be another setback: EDD would not accept the transplants driver's license issued by the Tennessee DMV as proof of identification.
"I just can't. I just can't keep doing this. It's been so long, and you know, no income whatsoever," Boatner told us.



That's when she contacted 7 On Your Side. We then contacted the California DMV to get her an official California ID for non-drivers.
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EDD tells us it will accept the ID as proof of her identity.

Boatner has one thing to say: "I am a real human, despite whatever paperwork."

She's hopeful once she can get her California ID, that will be the end of her ordeal.

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