Temporarily Self Employed Received a Determination Letter

[u/panther351]

I have been unemployed since January and was offered a part time job in March. I looked through the FAQ in this subreddit and determined what my maximum pay could be (1 and 1/3rd of my benefit at 31 hours). I continued submitting weekly claims but since I was working during the day, my normal profession hours, I said I was not able and available 40hrs. I of course still applied to any job I could and answered phone calls and did interviews.

This week I received two letters denying my benefits beginning when I started my part time job.

1st Reads: We must reduce or deny your unemployment benefits starting Mar 30 2025 Reasons:You, your employer or someone else told us that you are not able to work or available for work because you were already working. We decided you are not able to work and available for at least 40 hours of work, during the hours customary for your occupation, each week. The laws that apply are RCW 50.20.010, RCW 50.20.130, WAC 192-140-200 and WAC 192-170-010.

2nd Reads: We denied your unemployment benefits starting Mar 23 2025 Reason: We decided you are not eligible for benefits because you are self-employed and you do not meet all of the following criteria: • Looking for work as an employee of others. • Willing to give up your self-employment to accept work with an employer. • Available for at least 40 hours with an employer during the days and hours usual for your occupation. The laws that apply are RCW 50.20.010, RCW 50.04.140, and WAC 192-190-105. You owe us $ for Overpayment

Did I do something wrong or do I just need to give back the overpayment and when the part time job ends I will be able to continue the benefits?

Should I appeal?

[u/SoThenIThought_]

This is because of your answers to a fact finding where they asked you about self-employment

You did not understand the questions and you submitted answers that indicated that One or more of the three are true: 1) you're not willing to search for work in regular employment or, 2) you're not available for 40 hours of work or, 3) you're not looking for work in your regular industry.

You can find this yourself by going in your online account

going to the online activity tab

click view all

scroll down to you see the fact finding, eponymously titled Self Employment

Hit the back button.

look for those three questions. You probably answered one or all of those accidentally in such a way as to indicate that you're going to be staying self-employed and you're not going back to regular employment in which case you can't be on unemployment anymore because you're not able and available for regular employment

a successful appeal would indicate

1. You misunderstood the questions. these are the actions that you took that demonstrate that prior to you answering these questions and after you answering these questions that your actions do not correspond to what you answered and that you are and have been doing the job search activities looking for regular work. You have been available for at least 40 hours of work each week on regular employment, not just self-employment, and you're available to return to your previous industry

specifically includes

• robust job search logs including other application data like LinkedIn application history

• robust information to show that the self-employment is not projected, not intended, and has not currently replaced your regular employment

• statement indicating how you understood the questions at the time of reading, and how it was clearly a misunderstanding

How the hell did I get all this from what you said?

actually it's just in the click here link

Click the click here link

scroll down.

Do you see the whole thing that says

general process for finding the laws to prepare an appeal?

I've done this enough that I know what those laws say and they have a caveat within them about demonstrating eligibility based on job search logs. So if you had clicked the click here link, If you had read that post, if you had found those laws then you would be seeing that section of laws to which I'm referring now.

don't think you've gotten to that point yet since I'm describing this to you and it's in the click here link but once you do read that we can be on the same page and we can move forward pretty quickly