I was laid off from my full time (W-2) marketing job in early April. I've been submitting my weekly UI claims and receiving my unemployment benefits as expected (about $700 per week). About three weeks ago, my former employer reached out and asked if I wanted to do some project-based contract work for them (1099), a couple of hours per week. The first week I only worked one hour (earned 50 bucks), which I reported on my weekly claim as self employment income. But then they sent a decision letter (dated 5/26) saying my benefits have been denied because I no longer fit the criteria: 1) Looking for work as an employee of others, 2) willing to give up your self-employment to accept work with an employer, and 3) available for at least 40 hours with an employer during the days and hours usual for your occupation.

However I DO fit all these criteria. I immediately filed an appeal in the online portal, and reiterated that I am still looking for work as an employee of others, I am willing to give up my self-employment to accept work with an employer, and I am indeed available for at least 40 hours/week with an employer. I called ESD to try and get some insight, and the gentleman I spoke with said they do an internal review before submitting the appeal to OAH for a hearing. He said my explanation in the portal was thorough, and while he couldn't say for certain whether the decision would be reversed or not, I got the impression that since I explained how I do in fact meet the criteria for unemployment benefits that they listed, it was looking good.

Today (6/3) I got a letter from OAH saying they received my appeal and would contact me about a hearing date soon. I am just so confused—why is this so complicated? I have now had two weeks of benefits denied, and to be clear, the amount I made in self employment each of those two weeks was significantly less than my total weekly benefit amount. In order to continue receiving benefits, I've paused any self employment work for the time being. Am I missing something? Why is this happening? Thank you in advance if you've already read this far. Any advice going into this hearing would also be appreciated.

Hiiiii, hope someone will help me...

This is for when all claims filed under a new unemployment claim are marked disqualified. There isn't even a waiting week marked. There are no letters in this claim to describe why this is happening... Because it is an ongoing disqualification from a PREVIOUS claim and the letters are in a previous claim....This is how to fix it

^{[It's from a previous claim. So NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CLAIM. Nothing at all. Nothing about your job separation. Nothing about job search activities. Nothing about when you filed the weekly claim. Nothing to do with this claim at all.]}

You probably have a disqualification from a previous claim that is ongoing.

A PREVIOUS CLAIM. Not the current claim. So you'll be looking in older claims

Hey.... Read this stuff slowly, thrice. Most of you have been struggling for a long time until you got here. Don't make it hard on yourself. Don't make it hard on me to help you. This is literally the most commonly insufficiently read or insufficiently understood post in all of this unemployment stuff that I do - because you guys are so desperate and in such an incredible panic. Please help me reverse the trend because some of these conversations are such a pain in the ass when people make up what I what they think I wrote in their request for help... Because of panic/desperation.

• ^{[You can either accept this help and I can personally walk you through material that I have gone over thousands of times with a success rate of above 95% and you get a decision in a week or less, or you ignore this and you're waiting indefinitely with no confidence and no competence about if or when you will be able to fix this. Two most common causes of this are typically not resolved by only calling.]}

99% These are not resolved by appeals, Please read all of this information including the link below

That is why the decision is not listed in your current claim. >>>It is listed in a previous claim.<<< It is probably listed in a determination letter

-------------- Troubleshooting -----------------

• 1. You need to find the determination letter. You can find that by clicking on >>>NOTICES /LETTERS<<< in the old claim. Click All Letters. This is in descending chronological order.

You want to find something with the title - Determination Letter

Other things in here that are not that and not helpful

• Re-evaluate Claim Letter
• Monetary Determination Letter
• PEUC Redetermination Letter
• Data Privacy Sharing Notice
• ...literally anything at all other than what I just wrote above. Determination letter. . .
• 2. You found the Determination letter? Where does it say which of the below types this is?

Page 1, middle:

---Able and Available: Ongoing disqualification: Medical Issue--- click this to see an example

There are other types within this category: travel or vacation where you did not set an end date, lack of transportation where you did not tell them that it was fixed, school attendance where you were taking 12 or more credits and you never told them when that ended, etc. Do you see the theme? You have to tell them when things end.

• This is the law that governs all of these, the one that says that the disqualification will continue until that circumstance no longer exists... And you have to tell them when it no longer exists. WAC 192-140-200

FIXED BY PROVIDING RESPONSES/DOCUMENTATION. NOT FIXED BY CALLING. NOT FIXED BY WAITING. WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY RESOLVE EVER UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY ADDRESS THIS. YOU'LL BE BACK HERE 5 YEARS FROM NOW WITH THE SAME PROBLEM IF YOU DON'T FIX THIS. some of these. Not all. But some. Do require an appeal but that is very rare

^{ǝʇɐldɯǝʇ pǝƃolɐʇɐɔ ɐ sɐ sıɥʇ ǝʌɐɥ ʎpɐǝɹlɐ ʎlqɐqoɹd ı ˙dlǝɥ ɹoɟ ǝɯ ʞsɐ os ˙ǝnssı uoıʇɐʇuǝɯnɔop ɐ sı sıɥʇ - ǝɔıʌɹǝs ɹǝɯoʇsnɔ llɐɔ ʎlɯopuɐɹ ʇsnɾ ʇ,uop ˙sıɥʇ pɐǝɹǝɹ puɐ ǝlʇʇıl ɐ uʍop ʍols ʇsnɾ ˙ǝɹǝɥ ɯoɹɟ ɔıuɐd/ʎʇǝıxuɐ ǝɥʇ lǝǝɟ uɐɔ ı ˙ʇɐǝɹƃ ƃuıop ǝɹ,noʎ ˙ʎǝH}

---Re-qualify Issue: Voluntary Quit Without Good Cause--- click this to see an example

There are not multiple types. This is just for people who quit who didn't give enough information or didn't know what information to give and therefore they could not be found eligible. After the quit that was adjudicated as not eligible, you have to go back to work for 7 weeks and earned seven times your weekly benefit amount to clear this. So if you haven't been back to work since then then there's no way to fix this. If you have, then the agent needs to manually clear it. It's not automatic. The waiting game is not going to work. It's not going to automatically fix itself based on anything to do with your current claim.

• This is the law WAC 192-150-085

FIXED BY CALLING. NOT FIXED BY APPEALING. NOT FIXED BY SENDING MESSAGES. NOT FIXED BY WAITING. UNLIKELY TO BE AUTOMATICALLY RESOLVED.

^{˙dlǝɥ ɹoɟ ǝɯ ʞsɐ ʇsnɾ 'pǝɯɹıɟuoɔ ʇı ʇǝƃ oʇ pǝǝu noʎ ɟı ˙ʇı pɐǝɹǝɹ ˙uʍop ʍols ʇsnɾ ˙ʇɐɥʇ ʎɐs ʇ,usǝop ʇı ˙ǝɹǝɥ ɯoɹɟ ɔıuɐd ǝɥʇ lǝǝɟ uɐɔ ı ˙ʇınb noʎ ʎɥʍ ʇnoqɐ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos ǝpıʌoɹd oʇ ǝʌɐɥ noʎ ʞuıɥʇ noʎ ¿ʇɥƃıɹ ʇɐɥʇ pɐǝɹsıɯ noʎ ˙ʇɐǝɹƃ ƃuıop ǝɹ,noʎ ˙ʎǝɥ}

---Failure to Respond: E g. Identity Verification --- click this to see an example

There are other types within this category; They could ask you for information about your jobs separation, identity verification, if you were able and available for a given week, earnings reporting from a current or previous employer, retirement pay / withdrawal, severance, school attendance, PUA documents Required...etc. For every and all requests, if you do not respond to that request, this happens.

• There is an entire chapter of laws mostly about failure to respond about different types of things, WAC 192-140

You may have more than one of each of these: You may have been asked for multiple things and didn't respond. You may have multiple able and available this qualifications. At least you can only have one re-qualify issue...

FIXED BY PROVIDING DOCUMENTATION. NOT FIXED BY CALLING. NOT FIXED BY WAITING. WILL NOT RESOLVE AUTOMATICALLY EVER. NOT FIXED BY APPEALING. I have guidance or templates for pretty much all of these. None of this is public, you have to ask.

If it is not clear, send me a picture of it on chat or email or text. Once we know if it is a failure to respond, or an able and available issue then the solution in number three will change.

^{ǝɔuɐpınƃ uı ʇno ǝʌɐƃ ʇsnɾ ı ʇɐɥʍ ʇɐǝdǝɹ oʇ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ ʇuɐʍ ʇ,uop ı ʇnq dlǝɥ oʇ ʇuɐʍ op ı 'uıɐƃɐ ɟɟnʇs sıɥʇ llɐ ʇɐǝdǝɹ oʇ ǝʌɐɥ ʇ,uop ı ɟı sıɥʇ xıɟ oʇ ɹǝısɐǝ ʇol ɐ ǝq oʇ ƃuıoƃ s,ʇı ˙ʍou lıʇun ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ ƃuıpɐǝɹǝɹ ɹǝpısuoɔ ˙ɔıuɐd ǝɥʇ uı uǝɥʍ puɐʇsɹǝpun oʇ pɹɐɥ ʎllɐǝɹ ǝq oʇ ƃuıoƃ sı sıɥʇ ˙ǝsuǝp ɹǝdns sɐʍ sıɥʇ ¿ƃuıɥʇɐǝɹq ʇnoɥʇıʍ sıɥʇ ɟo llɐ pɐǝɹ ʇsnɾ ʎllɐǝɹ noʎ pıp}

• 3. Do not just randomly call customer service just because you found it. Two of the three of these types require you provide documentation, which you cannot do on the phone. So please continue reading...

At this point. You don't really need more information. You probably understand it. But guess what. Below is another round of this. Because I am so desperate to stop this ongoing trend where people don't read it. So the post is really huge because I'm trying to get you to read it so desperately. So if you get it and you don't need to read it again, then don't. For the able and available and failure to respond, you really got to ask me for help because a lot of these templates and catalog guidance are no longer public because people were misusing them. I make you have to ask me for help

------- Failure to respond/Able and Available/Requalify law-------

Two major ways that there is an ongoing disqualification is

-------- Failure to Respond ---------

• Failure to respond. They asked you about something. You never responded, this causes you to be disqualified until such time as you finally respond and provide the information. Most common requests are identity verification, employer information (earnings), retirement pay, school attendance. These are not resolved by appealing, you have to find out what they were requesting and give it to them, often requiring calling customer service

Maybe in a previous claim, they asked you for

• updated earnings information from an employer?
• retirement pay?
• School attendance?
• Able and available as it applies to vacation/travel or using a VPN?
• identity verification?
• Severance information?

This is about documentation. Not randomly calling. Not randomly sending messages. You need to provide documentation that answers what they were asking for. I would be happy to help you figure this out, I probably already have a template.

---------- Ongoing Able and Available Issue -------

• Ongoing able and available issue. Like you were traveling or you had an illness or disability or in school at 12 credits or more, during a previous claim and no end date for that issue was ever set (meaning, you never told them when they stopped so .. It's an ongoing disqualification) maybe the last thing you did with ESD was a PAID LEAVE CLAIM. So the last thing that you effectively told them is you cannot work. So if that's the last thing you told them, then that's all they know. Because you have to tell them when it stops. These are not resolved by appealing, you just have to set an end date to this issue

This is about documentation. Not randomly calling. Not randomly sending messages. You need to provide documentation or something to demonstrate when the circumstance ended. I would be happy to help you figure this out, I probably already have a template.

• Let's say you were previously on a paid leave claim. Let's say it was for a broken bone. The medical certification form that you had your medical provider do stated a specific range of time that you would be out of work. And the end date of that on that form was in the future, relative to when they actually signed it/wrote on it. But was it? Did it actually get resolved? Because nothing was probably given to ESD on or after the date that it was supposedly / assumably resolved. Exactly. You're getting it. You do.

• You need a document from on or after that assumed end date that says that you're clear to work, at least in a suitable capacity/modified work. What document? It's effectively the same one. The same medical certification form. Why would it be different? Sometimes they'll accept the one on the paid leave site. Sometimes to make you call and ask them for it. They can email it to you or just put it in your online account. Have had multiple reports of both, with a similar success/failure rate, And I haven't seen an actual process described, and state law doesn't specifically say so I honestly don't know which they want / prefer/require / demand/ rope-swing into-a-hot-tub. Oh good. So you are still paying attention. That's pretty impressive at this point. Good job

^{... There is a third possibility but it is extremely rare...}

---------- RE-QUALIFY LAW ---------

• RE-QUALIFY LAW: When you quit without good cause, the determination letter that you received in your older claim contained a law that required you to re-qualify with new wages: have returned to work for a minimum of 7 weeks and earned seven times your weekly benefit amount. There have been a few cases where there's a glitch within ESD and you have been back to work for way longer than 7 weeks and earned way more than 7x Your previous weekly benefit.

This is only resolved by calling or otherwise talking to a customer service rep. They effectively press a button and accept the wages you earned since this letter was sent as satisfying the re-qualify requirements and this is removed immediately. So you should probably read....

----- CAVEAT: REQUESTED STANDBY, NOT APPROVED AND NOT DOING JOBS SEARCH ACTIVITIES ------

• WHEN APPROVED. When approved, stand by only absolves you of doing the job search activities once it's approved and only for the time period that's approved. You are not exempt from job search activities if your employer applies or if you apply to standby but it's not actually approved. A lot of times you guys have had your employer request standby or you requested standby and it's not approved and you just stop doing job search activities. It's going to take them in non-zero amount of time to process the standby request. So in between when you submit the standby request and when it's actually approved guess what... Either you stop filing weekly claims or you keep doing the minimum job search activities, because if you keep doing weekly claims and you report no to the job search activities. That you didn't do them. But you're not actually approved for standby then all your claims are going to say disqualified. And you're going to get a letter for each weekly claim that says that you're not searching for work. Because you're not. Because you're not approved.

And this is a manifestation of not actually reading the job search activity list because this sounds like a whole shitload of work as compared to just doing a 30 second elevator pitch, labor market research on esd, or the one that was really common during the pandemic that's still here, links or screenshots of YouTube videos as long as It's not the exact same video again and again. You should really look at the list if you haven't already.

So I actually don't recommend standby because it creates more problems. It also takes a ton of work. And you really have to pay attention to the time frame that is actually authorized by standby. Or you could just spend one minute 30 seconds to do the minimum activities each week that could not possibly jeopardize an incoming job start date.

------ Roadmap Info/Initial eligibility Post-----

You can read more about this by reading the material from the initial eligibility post that deals with this:

---Weekly Claims, Disqualified or Pending; Eligibility Issue from this Claim or Previous Claim---

Every time I call the office it says they’re unable to take my call and asks me to leave a voicemail. Is leaving a voicemail with my claim information beneficial or should I just keep trying to call? Been about 9 weeks with no updates on my claim.

I‘ve received notice that a previous employer reported hours and wages for weeks I did not work last year, and I was sent a form to fill out. Looking at this form, it looks like the employer is claiming I worked half an hour for the week ending 5/10 and they paid $278.17 for that half hour of work. Am I reading this correctly? I have all of my pay stubs, including the stubs for these weeks, so I’ve got evidence to submit, but I want to make sure I’m understanding their claim correctly before I do. Thanks in advance!

I was recently laid off due to upper management changes in my job. Basically, my bosses left my job, and took my work with them. I went to apply for benefits, and I get to the part of the application where they calculate your base year work hours, and their records show I have worked 0 hours since Jan 2025, which is incorrect. Does anyone here know what they base their records off? Is it Social Security? I ask because the bookkeeper at my old job was....criminally incompetent to say the least, and did not report any of my work hours since I started working there in 2024 to the Social Security Administration.

---Intro/Notes----

Hey. You're fixing your first eligible issue. This is literally step one. This is the first issue. This isn't the last. You are not done. So you need to turn down panic mode and turn on student mode.

After all this. You must address your job separation and your open eligibility issues.

After this, you will do this.

And tell me the answers to all three. I don't want a paragraph. I literally just want words. The date you applied. I want you to confident when you tell me what your job separation type was. I want you to read the posts so you know. And if you don't know you tell me that. And I want you to go to the correct link Upload a Document. Don't send me screenshots of pending issues. I didn't ask for you to do that and that's also not helpful at all. Look at it. What did you learn from that? That's why I didn't say to do that

This doesn't require an appeal to fix, just follow the advice or ask for help

This is not resolved by calling because how the hell are you going to relay all of your wage data in a phone call? They need the actual data to be sent to them

You have up to 1 year from the day of issuance of the monetary determination to fix this issue

• If you do not follow this guidance then you will be waiting multiple weeks for the other states to respond to provide your wage and hour data. We highly do not recommend doing this because it is a process that is now completely outside of your control whereas providing the data and starting an escalation is well within your control

"You've been trying to do this yourself unsuccessfully? You don't know why it's not working? This is the regular troubleshooting for this"

You need to include a sentence that specifically says that you are requesting a monetary redetermination and/or alternate base year and/or combined wage claim

1. Understand What Data Should or Shouldn't be included

When you apply determines which fiscal quarter data is being used. Please. Look at this image from the ESD website

• When you apply in the time frame marked in the red lettering, the data that's used is in the blue shaded area to the left
• If you are not sure, you need to find your monetary determination letter which is listed in your notice's / letters tab. You need to look at the chart on page two
• If you are still not sure, ask me u/SothenIThought_

^{Why might this data be missing in the first place?}

2. Understand what data you are providing

• If the wage and hour data is incomplete (and/or You want to do a combined wage claim with wages from another state from the same base year), >>>You need to give them the missing data. You do not need to give them data they already have.<<<

• Persons who are salary and have no hours reported, customer service as a specific calculation in order to fix this. You will still follow this process. You will still request a monetary determination and then you will call customer service and go over the information that you have already submitted in the way that it's described here.

• Just a quick recap... The need to know the gross income earned in a quarter, and the hours worked in a quarter for each employer. Got it? Okay.

Honestly you just got to slow down and think critically. Really. I'm not being mean. You're just in a panic

**ESD does say that they want all the pay stubs.* But you're going to read this. And you're going to read it slowly and not in a panic and you can see why that may not be necessary. Or just send them everything. Just don't do this in a confusion and a panic and do it half-ass. Just do it right the first time. As for help if you need

Pay stubs from just after start of quarter, just before end of quarter

• Let's say the data that's missing is quarter one. So this is January 1 through March 31st. This is also when the New Year starts. So how many hours do you start with? Zero. So you go from zero to whatever the total amount of hours worked is at the end of the quarter.

So a pay stub from this employer that is from the pay period that ended immediately before the end of the quarter which of the total hours worked in Q1. Because by default you're starting at zero

Q2, Q3, Q4

You are not starting at zero. So, a pay stub that represents the pay period that started immediately after the beginning of the missing quarter This would show how many hours you started with in this quarter. ... And .. a pay stub from the pay period that ended immediately before the end of the quarter. Because math. You take the later pay period hours worked and subtracted from the earlier one from the start of the quarter. Then you just have total hours worked.

Or you can just give them all the pay stubs Like it says below. ESD does say that they want all the pay stubs. But I mean once you read this... I don't know. It doesn't really make sense why you would need everything but whatever... Doesn't really matter. I really just matters that when you're doing this you know what the f you're doing. So often I get people who tell me that they did this and that they did the whole thing while being confused. I mean why. Like why guys? Don't do that. Just ask for help

You need to include a sentence that specifically says that you are requesting a monetary redetermination and/or alternate base year and/or combined wage claim

• Yes. Literally all of the pay stubs that cover the missing data. If the work occurred in the last year and you have a W-2 that represents that, that needs to be sent too.
• Yes, It literally says all of this on the ESD website about this. Please refer to this ESD site.,

3. Understand how you are providing this data.

You will send them your pay stubs and w-2s as attachments to a message in eService with a single sentence requesting a redetermination and include the missing wage data

The ESD website and the handbook say slightly different things.

• They both require you to send them some kind of a request of redetermination. Literally a sentence that says "I am requesting a redetermination with the attached wages included in my monetary determination"

You need to include a sentence that specifically says that you are requesting a monetary redetermination and/or alternate base year and/or combined wage claim

YES. SERIOUSLY.

SEND IT IN THROUGH ESERVICES. AS AN ATTACHMENT TO A MESSAGE.

• This part of the process is a lot easier in desktop mode. That's a mode. That's not me telling you to get on the desktop. It's a browser setting. Yes, you do have this browser sitting on mobile.

• The website says that they want you to mail or fax all of your pay stubs in. If you're going to do this old school like this then you need to get a return receipt so you know that they got the mail. This is why it's so much easier to just send it as an attachment to a message in eServices because you can view that they process this in your online activity and view exactly what you sent them by viewing your sent messages in your notices / letters tab. Click on notices. Click on outbox.

4. Understand that you need to force them to process this stuff

WHOA STOP. THIS IS NOT THE END OF EVERYTHING. You're fixing literally step one. Out of like a hundred. Slow down and think about the whole thing. What if you're doing this after the 10th business day for when the claim was filed? Maybe ESD already has a response from the employer. So if you were fired and it was like tardiness or absences and you don't address that. You don't look into your eligibility issues and you start an escalation. Sure. You're going to fix your monetary eligibility issue. And then you're going to fucking kill your claim and be ineligible because you didn't address any other eligibility issues.

All we're doing is fixing one issue. For sure you have another one. You probably have two or three

You will need to start an escalation to force them to process this information. This is the escalation megapost, click this link.. This is too much information and you need a custom walkthrough, ask me.

• ESD does not publish or abide by timelines with which they process this so there's no point in asking or posting "How long will it take until". That isn't a thing. It's never been a thing. You need to take action by starting an escalation so you can control how fast this actually gets done.

5. Understand that you will have other eligibility issues, like your job separation.

• You are on step zero. You're not even monetarily eligible. If you're not monetarily eligible then they're not going to investigate your job separation because you're not even monetarily eligible to begin with so there's no point. Once you become monetarily eligible you're claim will be active and they will begin on that date to investigate your job separation.
• You will still need to go over the guidance in this post about your job separation reason.
• Only once your claim is active does the timeline start of how long they allow the employer to respond to the request for job separation information, which is 10 business days, which is why they will not make a decision within 10 business days from when the claim is active.

In between now and then is a good time for us to work on your job separation. Everybody needs to provide documentation as to why they chose what they chose in their initial application. There are no exceptions. If you try to be exception to this rule this will end our relationship as I cannot be involved In accidentally or incidentally helping people who are effectively committing fraud by deliberately misreporting their job separation type, some people make honest mistakes. That's okay, that's normal and common and I expect it. Deliberately hiding or misrepresenting your job separation issue is the kind of thing that, my participation in such an activity can get the entire community shut down on a cease and desist.

^{ABOUT PROVIDING THE JOB SEPARATION INFORMATION; "BuT EsD DIdnT AsK Me fOR this BeFoRe!?" - actually they will twice. They asked when you filed your claim to attach documentation and you probably didn't do that. Then you have or will get a fact finding for your job separation and that ask you to attach information at the end. Less than 1% of you do this. Do not attempt to try to gaslight me about them asking you. This will end poorly. Yeah, This sentence is a bit out of place and hardcore. But, if the claimants stance is to engage in an activity that erodes their eligibility or just intentionally doesn't do anything to support it, where my goal is to build the strongest possible eligibility case as soon as possible so you get paid as soon as possible, then this is in direct conflict with the reason that I am even here on Reddit on this persona.}

----- Caveats -----

Did you work for an educational institution? Or were you an intern? Or were you at 1099 contractor? Or corporate officer?, If any of these apply you should probably read the following sections about monetary eligibility that are immediately after this section to explain why this could have happened and if it can or cannot be resolved;

---Exceptions/Clarifications for Basic Monetary Eligibility---

---Caveats: Employment Types, Military---

• Often but not always students and others working for an educational institution have not had these taxes paid on their behalf and therefore are not eligible for unemployment benefits even if all of the other eligibility conditions are met. Students employed by their educational institution face this Washington state law, which makes them exempt from unemployment benefit eligibility; monetary eligibility has to be met by other employers in their base year

Other Resources

In some cases you can just simply not be determined to be eligible based monetary determination issues. If you are not found eligible there are other resources

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnemploymentWA/s/Ksx4DnfAPX

You. Are Worth It.

Hi all,

I recently had to quit my job due to following my husband, who was offered a higher paying position in California. I’m almost to 6 weeks without a decision (contacted representative who said they could bump it up when I did reach 6 weeks).

My question is—I’ve been doing my weekly UI claims, but does anyone know what additional documents they need to approve it? So far I’ve submitted:

1. Husband’s old job shutting down letter
2. Husband’s new job letter
3. Husband’s salary for the new job
4. An e-mail from my work’s HR stating my position could not be done out of state

Anything else I need to not be denied this week when it’s escalated? Thank you!

1. Make sure you have your correspondence preferences set to electronic and not mailed. That way you get an email when there's a notice or letter and you can just log in and you don't have to wait for a mail delay

   I seriously don't see an advantage to getting it via mail

2. Use Google authenticator for multi-factor authentication login instead of email or text. App for mobile, or desktop extension

It's way faster and if you lose your phone you're not screwed.

1. Claims that are called in through the automated system are paid quicker, but you have to have a really robust job search log

This really helps during typical holiday delays or if you really need the money a day or so early

1. Job search activities include screenshots or links of YouTube videos about interviews or resumes

This really helps if you have a job starting soon, or if you're just busy. ^{[significantly better alternative in every way than standby]}

1. You can travel or go on vacation on unemployment but there's some specific steps that you have to take and expectations you have to set for yourself.

Not doing this can really, really delay your payments. Weeks/Months

1. Working part-time is the best way to extend your benefits through your benefit year

2. Paranoid that there's a new eligibility issue you didn't know about? Here's how to investigate properly

Currently, they're not required to tell you when a new eligibility issues is opened. If you find an eligibility issue, tell me and I will help you solve it. I probably already have a guide. I've probably had that conversation a few thousand times

1. Do NOT use a VPN to Access eServices- The federal government requires ESD to track in your IP address login location So if it is outside of the state of Washington or outside of the country it can make it look like you have been on vacation and therefore not able and available and therefore not eligible. This generates a very general fact finding request about able and available.

• Thinking about calling? Ask me if the thing is resolved on a call or not or if it's a policy or a process question, just ask me directly.

• Weekly claims: The team that processes these are internal and you cannot call and speak with them or get a status or expedite handling of your weekly claim processing. There is no point in trying.

• Received a fact finding that's making you panic? Ask me before you submit it because you cannot retract it. (Especially true with school attendance)

--------- Most Common Posts ----------

• 98% Off all Questions/Issues/Calls Resolved in these 5 posts <<<CLICK HERE
• 1. Initial Eligibility Megapost "Am I eligible?" Resolves 80% of all questions
• 2. Adjudication/Pending/Escalation
• 3. Working Part-time Extends Duration of Benefits
• 4. Job Search Activities "False, - Dilemma" ^{[accurate until 12/31/2023]}
• 5. Traveling/Vacation, Best Practices

Howdy all! Filing the waiting week ESD claim, got a question about severance package. Do I claim no on receiving a severance for each week I didn't receive it, then once I do receive it, answer yes?

Hi All,

I received a denial on my unemployment benefits about three months after filing as my employer contested and stated I quit. I plan to file an appeal but would appreciate any help or guidance!

I work in a tech role and went on FMLA/WPFML in the fall of last year for mental health following an abrupt change in my boss’s attitude towards me and my performance over a three week period that ended with an unachievable PIP. I reached out to my therapist and physician a couple weeks before the PIP and started the FMLA process, and I only ended up working a couple days after the PIP.

During my FMLA leave, my therapist and physician both advised I not return to my employer to preserve my health. I also spoke with a couple lawyers who advised I pursue medical disability separation (https://des.wa.gov/services/small-agency-support/human-resources/supervisor-toolkit/separating-employment-disability-separation). At the end of my leave, my medical providers reaffirmed that I should not return to work at that employer, but that I could be cleared to work elsewhere.

I initiated the medical separation request with my employer, stating that I was not voluntarily resigning. My employer stated the link I sent only applied to government employees; however, they said they could either process my separation request or let me apply for extended leave and see if I could return after. Given my providers said no accommodations would improve my ability to continue working there, I asked that they process my separation request.

I have the email chain with HR along with my medical providers’ signed documents advising not to return to preserve my health. I am not sure what else I may need to help my case, but I’m frankly worried that what I have may not be enough.

Is there any advice or recommended actions for a case like this?

Thank you all!

Filling out last week’s claim by phone, I messed up and submitted before adding my income from pet sitting (less than $300). Tried to hang up before it submitted, failed at that, so I immediately went online to file a report.

I was surprised to see the full amount deposited, but figured it would get adjusted down later. Logged in today, I don’t even remember why, to see that I had two notices and two letters. Apparently there was a request on Wednesday for more info about the claim, with a deadline for yesterday which I of course missed. So now I get a notice of denial of claim for failing to report wages from an employer (which I don’t have), and a bill for the entire week’s benefit payment.

I realize that I messed up. I realize that it will probably be resolved by my appeal. I also am good doing technical legal work, but this stresses me at an already stressful time. And why can’t they email or text me to let me know I have action items on my account? I mean, do I have to just log in every day or two?

How much worse is it for someone who isn’t as familiar with government bureaucracy? Or for whom English isn’t their first language? The last thing I need is to have a hearing, pay back a week’s benefits, and I don’t know, provide evidence of NOT having a job.

I am being honest here. I am including the $20 - 40 per week cash I receive for walking the neighbor’s dog and any cash tips. I’m trying to find any kind of work, even though the pet stuff reduces my benefits and I am effectively making less than $2 per hour.

I do truly appreciate the safety net. And everyone I have spoken to at ESD has been kind and understanding (once I get through). It just seems like there has to be a more efficient way to deal with something like this.

I recently was denied after 7 weeks of claiming, as of today 5/30, and I just now submitted to appeal. I had to leave my job because my disabled child turned 12 and was no longer eligible for daycare before and after school. My job was a 7am to 330pm warehouse job with a mandatory schedule for everyone. I am still in the process of finding a caregiver. I was allowed to work a temporary modified schedule, but was constantly told I was affecting production and this could only be temporary. After several months of this, I’d had to miss a lot of work because my daughter was ill, and I foolishly felt bad because I knew they needed someone to cover my production so I quit, as I had to get my child to 5 appointments in the coming week.

I was denied because I “didn’t promptly inform my employer” (I texted them the day I resigned telling them, which they agreed when contacted)

And because I “didn’t take steps to try to keep my job” (I worked a modified schedule for 3 months while trying to figure out a caregiver and keep the job) though I didn’t give a notice, as I would’ve been unable to work it anyway.

I’m assuming I have no chance, but I did appeal. I know I made big mistakes, but if there’s anything to salvage my appeal I’d be grateful to know what I could say or what language they are looking for, as it seems to be a matter of semantics with this whole thing..

I assume we're boned here but looking to get some advice from this crowd.

My wife was a teacher working at an alternative private school. Over the summer she was notified that her role was eliminated due to drops in enrollment. She began filing for unemployment in September when the next school year began.

Also in September, she interviewed for and was accepted as a sub at a few private schools in the area. These jobs were either accepted through an online portal or via email if the schools reached out to her directly. Typically, the jobs posted online were gone very quickly so she only had so much work available.

The school she worked at the most let her go in November, so she applied for and was accepted into the Seattle Public Schools sub pool. These jobs were also made available via an online portal, and most of the jobs within her skillset, experience, and reasonable commute would be gone fairly quickly, though she took every job she could in order to satisfy the minimum hours worked requirement from the district.

In January, she started an online, asynchronous graduate degree program and continued to work as she could, prioritizing (maybe to my frustration) work over school, which meant school would get done over the weekends on weeks she was able to work.

Fast forward to a week or two ago...

She received a letter from the state saying she was not able and available to work at least 40 hours each week during the usual work times for her occupation, violated RCW 50.20.010, RCW 50.20.130, WAC 192-140-200 and WAC 192-170-010, and must pay back $7200 in payments between November and her last payment in March, or every payment she received since she started working at SPS.

My understanding is:

1. Subs are eligible for unemployment

2. Students can be eligible for unemployment, so long as school is not their full-time and the individual remains available and actively seeking work.

My wife reported her student status in the weekly claim portal however that is done (I have not seen the portal/form she submitted weekly), accurately reported all wages earned when subbing, and continued to receive payments until eligibility expired.

SPS/TALX UCM SERVICES INC challenged her eligibility, hence the at fault ruling and repayment.

We filed an appeal and will have that scheduled shortly. Thankfully, we can afford the repayment if needed but I'd like a) to have the at-fault ruling overturned, and b) have the payback amount either reduced or waived completely.

Again, I think we're boned either way but any advice would be greatly appreciated, or at least contextualizing the ruling from the state dating back to November. I can understand a ruling saying she was unable to work once starting school in January, and clarifying to the state that her program is asynchronous and did not interfere with her ability to work, but asking for back payment prior to her being a student is asinine.

Thanks!

I was expected my severance to be a lump sum payout, but they're paying it biweekly as a salary continuation instead. ESD's website says severance payments shouldn't impact weekly claim payments, but when I reported the severance payment last week (half, since it's just what I'd have gotten for that week), I got $0 from ESD, saying I was already getting paid too much.

I'm going through a lot right now, including a serious illness in the family. It would be great if I could just pause my claim until the severance runs out, so I don't have to keep up with the 3 weekly job search activities. I could really use the breathing room to job search on my own time, as I'm able to with everything else that's going on. I've only found info on pausing for a temp job, though.

Can I pause for any reason, or does it have to only be because I found short-term work? (Yes, I know I have to restart within the 52-week claim year).

Schedule a time with me

Based on what I've read I think I can re-apply when my benefits run out end of this month (May).

My benefits went from June 1, 2025 to May 30, 2026. They stopped for about 6 months while I worked for a new employer and on/off from original employer. I restarted and they dry up in two days.

I logged about 1300 hours.

So I assume that on June 1, 2026 I can simply re-apply?

The new employer was in OR and original in WA so I can apply to either but not both is my understanding. Is that correct?

Just got a letter saying “monetary determination”. It didn’t say whether I was approved or not. Does this letter mean I was approved?

Fascinating training in a tangential sector of law as it relates to Long Term Care Evictions.

Hello Everybody,

Trying to figure out my eligibility timeline and would appreciate any input.

My situation:

• Nov 2025: Applied for FMLA and was receiving WA state PFML weekly payments
• Jan 28, 2026: Laid off from Amazon (notification + last day worked). PFML payments stopped
• Jan 28 – Apr 28: Amazon kept me on payroll (salary continuation), plus a lump sum severance
• Apr 28: Official separation date
• Jun 1: New job starts at a different company

What I've done so far:

I've filed weekly claims through the portal covering May 10 – May 23. Tried calling customer care multiple times but can't get through keeps looping in the menu system.

My question:

Can I claim unemployment benefits starting from April 28 (when salary continuation and severance ended), through May 31 (before new job starts)?

Or does the prior PFML claim / salary continuation period affect my eligibility?

Want to make sure I'm filing this correctly given the FMLA history.

Thanks for any guidance.

Come ask me any question in real time

I need help understanding how to properly stack my leave benefits. I work at a company that uses Sedgwick to help process leave claims and told off my pay after the state pay.

I have a total of 12 weeks medical leave, six weeks of paid family leave, and six weeks of unpaid bonding. I’ve been told that there’s a way to stack these to maximize the benefits.

For example, I was planning on taking my paid leave first, and then my unpaid last. However, someone told me that the company I work for will benefit off of this formula versus if I took the unpaid leave in between the two paid leaves as the state will pay my company and then my company pays me for family leave.

Right now, I have my leave set up to be 12 weeks medical, 6 weeks paid family leave, and 6 weeks unpaid bonding.

It seems like the better route is 12 weeks medical, 6 weeks unpaid bonding, 6 weeks paid family leave.

If I understand correctly, if I take my paid leave 12 weeks + 6 weeks then the state will pay my company for the 6 weeks of family leave who then pays me, but I get screwed as I am using my as sick hours and PTO to cover a portion of the unpaid time.

However, I’m slightly confused because of the hourly payout Sedgwick requires as it uses a full 7 day week, not 40 hours Like a standard work week.

Can someone help explain this to me? I’m so confused at this point!

Hi all, We are opening a new /r for the company - WEBA

VIDEO- promotional, informative, most sort term video Reviews and regular video cameo of certain issues

https://www.reddit.com/r/WEBA/