Welcome to the Employment Development Department’s video series for employers: “How to Respond
to SIDES Requests for Eligibility Information.” Have you already subscribed to SIDES E-Response?
This video will show you how to electronically receive and respond to eligibility information
for the EDD through SIDES E-Response. If you’re not already subscribed to SIDES
E-Response, visit our SIDES website and view our other tutorial to show you how. How will
I know that the EDD sent a SIDES request for eligibility information? Once you've signed
up for SIDES E-Response, when a former employee files a new claim or reopens an existing claim,
you'll receive an e-mail notification within 24 hours, at the e-mail you designated when
you signed up. How do I access my requests? Select the SIDES E-Response link in the email
sent to you by the EDD. SIDES will send only one e-mail a day, regardless of the number
of claims sent to you that day. All the claims can be reached from that link.
Tip. Add this email to your address book to prevent requests from going into your junk/spam
folder. This link will direct you to Employer Services Online. Enter your Employer Services
Online username and password and select the Login button to continue. The SIDES E-Response
page will display with the total number of requests that require a response. Select the
link, Respond to Requests to get started. This pop-up box informs you that you are leaving
the EDD website and are being redirected to the National SIDES E-Response website. Select
Continue to navigate to your home page. You are now on the Separation Information Requests
home page. Here, you'll see a list of all separation information requests associated
with your account starting with the oldest first. The page displays your former employee’s
SSN, name and date the response is due. The left side of the page provides navigation
instructions specific to the page you are viewing. It also includes a link to the User's
Guide. You can also view the request by Due Date or Status. Typically, you should answer
the responses in the order they were received to meet the due date. It is important that
each response be submitted by its due date to ensure timeliness, and provide the eligibility
information we need to make a sound and legally based decision to properly charge your UI
reserve account. The Response Status field identifies if a response has been submitted,
is in progress or has not been started yet. At any point while completing the response,
you can save your work and come back to it later; the Response Status will show In Progress.
You can choose to edit your saved response or delete the information to start over. Deleting
the response does not delete the actual notification, only the information you entered. You cannot
delete or edit a response that has already been submitted, instead you will create an
Amended Response which we'll discuss later. How do I respond to a new request? Select
the Create Response button to begin. The Claimant and Employer Identification page is the first
page to display. It includes information regarding your former employee and your business, such
as their name and Social Security Number. It is important to review the information
on this page for accuracy. If any of the information is incorrect, it
could adversely affect your UI reserve account. You will notice that your State Employer Account
Number will appear in the Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) field with two
zeros at the end. These two numbers should match and should be your current State Employer
Account Number. If this information is incorrect, or the claimant
worked under any other SSN or Name, select the corresponding box. You will be navigated
to the Claimant and Employer Identification Change page to correct the information.
The data will be routed to the EDD for review and handling.
Select Next to save your work and continue. You are now on the Preparer Information page.
This page gathers information about you, the person preparing the response, including your
contact information. It is important that you provide the best phone number for the
EDD to contact you, in case clarification or further information is needed.
The EDD is required to conduct phone interviews with you and your former employee to address
issues and resolve conflicting information. Select Next to save your work and continue.
Now you're on the Employment Information page. Here, you’ll find information provided by
the claimant to the EDD when they filed their claim. You’ll be asked to validate this
information and complete the required fields which are indicated by a red asterisk.
The last day worked is important because it determines the effective date of our decisions
and identifies if the claimant earned any wages since the start of their claim.
If the last day worked or separation reason provided by the claimant is different, enter
the information from your records in the corresponding fields. If the claimant is still working,
enter the last day the claimant physically worked.
It’s important that you select the correct reason for the separation because the additional
pages that display will request clarifying information related to that reason.
"Not Listed Above" should only be used if the situation does not fit any of the other
reasons. Only use the separation reason, "Refuse to Provide," when you cannot or will not present
the information requested and we should proceed based on the information the claimant provided.
If the reason for separation is a Labor Dispute, identify if it was a Strike or Lockout, otherwise
skip this question. If the reason for separation was retirement, let us know if the retirement
was mandatory or voluntary, otherwise skip this question. Later you will be given the
opportunity to provide information about a pension.
If you selected that the claimant was fired, discharged or on disciplinary suspension then
you’ll be required to also complete the Discharge or Disciplinary Suspension page.
Once you have completed the Employment Information page, the Wages Earned/Hours Worked page will
display. This page is for you to let the EDD know if
the claimant worked and earned any wages after the claim effective date, located at the top
of the page. If the claimant did not work and/or earn any wages for the period of time
indicated then skip the questions. Now you are on the Additional Separation Information
page. This page asks you to provide return to work and other compensation information.
If the claimant is still working part time, let us know if the claimant is still working
and if they are working all available hours. Specify if the claimant will receive any of
the following compensation on or after the last day of work. We do not need to know about
compensation the claimant received for work that happened prior to the claim effective
date. You are required to either select the “Yes” or “No” check box for each compensation
type. If you select “Yes” you will be asked
to provide additional information related to the compensation. Remember that company
pension we mentioned earlier? Indicate here if the claimant is receiving a company pension
by answering yes or no and be prepared to provide additional information about the pension.
This information is needed to determine if the claimant is entitled to benefits and how
much your account will be charged, if any. As we mentioned earlier, if you selected Fired
or Discharged on the Employment Information page, the Discharge or Disciplinary Suspension
page will display. Here you will provide detailed information about the final incident which
caused the claimant to be discharged or suspended. If there were prior incidents, select Yes.
The questions that follow give you plenty of opportunity to provide details regarding
prior warnings and incidents. The Prior Incidents & Additional Information page will display.
On this page you can provide information for up to four prior incidents.
The prior incidents should relate to the reason why the claimant was discharged and need only
be reported if they are needed to support any action you've taken with the claimant.
If you have supporting documentation, such as company policies, written warnings, or
any relevant documents that support your statement, you may upload these documents to the Attachments
page. You can upload up to 10 documents with a maximum size of 5 MB for a single response.
If there is conflicting information between you and the claimant these attachments can
be used as written evidence to support your statement.
After uploading documents, the attachments will display here. When you’re done, select
Next. The Additional Separation Information page is the final page to display before submission.
Enter any additional information regarding the separation. Remember, we will contact
you by phone to obtain clarifying or additional information, if needed. So if we leave a message,
be sure to call back by the time requested to protect your UI account from charges. If
there is no other information you would like to add, enter "None" in the field. Select
Next to go to the Submission page. On the Submission page, select the View/Print link
to review your responses. To make any changes, select the Back button. If your answers are
correct select Submit to State. We recommend you print a copy for your records.You may
print the response at any time by selecting the View/Print link. Responses remain available
online for 35 days. If the Submit to State button is grayed out, one or more of the required
fields in your response are missing information. Simply select the link to be directed to the
page that contains the missing information and provide your response. When the response
has been successfully validated, you can submit it to the EDD. After I submit my response,
do I need to contact the EDD? No, once you’ve submitted your complete and timely response,
the EDD will process the information and will contact you if additional information is needed.
You can amend your response if you discover additional information after the submission.
It won't change the original one, but allows you to provide additional information pertinent
to your statement. You can only submit information through SIDES
E-Response when you have received the eligibility request through SIDES E-Response. There are
some exceptions when you will still receive the paper notice of Unemployment Insurance
Claim Filed. If you've already received a paper eligibility request, you must complete
and mail the form within 10 days. We hope this video was helpful. For more information
please visit the SIDES website.