Out of State Appeals Hearing . . .

What is the name of your state? Oklahoma - Previous state is California

My husband and I both left our jobs in California to care for his parents in Oklahoma - mother is disabled by MS and father is getting to old to care for her. We sold our home, packed up and hit the road. When we got here we filed for unemployment through the California EDD system. They denied us stating that the disabled person already had someone to care for her, which was my father in law. I wrote an appeal letter explaining that he is well into his 60's and is unable to care for her on a full time basis and that she is completely disabled. Now they have stated that an appeal hearing date will be set in California, however, we are in Oklahoma. I phoned the appeals department and they stated that the hearing will be done by phone. What is your input on a phone interview? Is it likely that we will get our benefits? Any other input you can provide would be greatly apreciated.

Thank you in advance

UC hearing via phone is routinely done in parts of every State where the closest UC office is just too far for the parties involved to drive to. There's nothing special or unique about it. The procedure is exactly the same.

The only difference is that if either party has any documents they wish to submit as evidence, it obviously has to be done in advance so the Administrative Law Judge can decide whether they can be admitted and review them. Information on how to do this will have been included in the information mailed to you specifying the date and time of the hearing.

As to whether you will receive UC benefits, it's a toss up. I can tell you that in any other State, quitting your job to take care of a disabled relative would make you ineligible for UC benefits. In CA, who knows? They grant UC benefits for reasons that would be denied in any other State, although given the fact that the Initial Determination was not in your favor it seems unlikely.