r/UnemploymentWA • u/cancelthecheck86 • Sep 01 '25
Self-Employment
Hello,
I received a letter last night from WA ESD saying that I may have been self-employed since the middle of July and asking me to fill out an inquiry form that I have to submit.
I am doing some freelance consulting during this time and reported it on my weekly claims. They each reach out individually for a 30 minute to 1 hour consultation on various topics. I noted this as casual labor since it was a one time occurrence (they reach out, I don't actively seek them, so don't control frequency or anything like that) but have had multiple different sessions with different companies. The companies I was doing it for may have filed a 1099 (I'm not actually sure if they do, I haven't received one yet).
How do I fill out the form. It's asking questions like:
Are you or have you been self-employed since you applied for unemployment benefits? If yes, is it or was it casual labor or a one-time occurrence, such as mowing a neighbor’s lawn? (nested to the previous question) If no, did you work for a client or company as a 1099 or contract employee?
They also want a copy of my Job Search Logs. For that, I've been watching videos on job search topics each week. I'm a bit worried they may look at this as me not searching for work, though it is on the list of approved activities.
The last question is Why did you fail to report this previously? I really have no idea how to answer this. I reported income and hours worked on my weekly claims - so I'm not sure what else I should have done to report this.
Appreciate any help you can provide.
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u/Waste-Pipe467 Mar 10 '26
Did this ever get resolved for you? I had the same thing happen to me. Mine was photography but more of casual labor i would believe because its only 4 sessions maybe within 6 month time frame. It was never a fulltime job just here and there work. They didnt ask for a job search log though. Im wondering youre result and how long for a response time. I tried to call but the phone line said it wasnt taking calls at this time
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u/cancelthecheck86 Mar 11 '26
It did resolve, and they determined I was still qualified for unemployment. They wanted it reported as self-employment rather than casual labor for me though. I think the response time was several weeks - maybe a couple months. It sounds like ours was similar, here and there work, though I got to the 3 weeks of reporting quicker. I'm still waiting for a determination though from a trip I took at the end of last December where I reported that I wasn't able and available, and had submitted the fact finding in mid-January.
Apparently the definition of casual labor (from my conversation with the moderator) is that it needs to meet all 3 of the following: casual labor is defined as work for which you do not have a business, work that does not forward any advancement in the industry in which you typically work, and that work is irregular. For me it's the second one that flipped this over from casual labor to self-employed, but it didn't change anything on my weekly claims other than saying this was self-employment.
Also, if you ever need to get a hold of them on the phone, you can go to your local workforce office. They have a direct line that always gets answered.
Not sure if you've replied yet. The moderator on this thread was super helpful to me, and he walked through each of the questions with me before I replied. If you have the option to fax in the paper copy of the questionnaire I would recommend doing that (workforce can fax it for you for free) - when I went to submit it electronically, they wanted to know the days and times that I was doing it on a regular basis and given the irregularity on it, I couldn't provide that in any reasonable way, so ended up just faxing in the form.
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u/Waste-Pipe467 Mar 11 '26
Thank you! I actually got ahold of someone on the phone and she said it was just a system thing that flagged that. I was cleared and good to go the next day. Thanks so much for your response
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u/SoThenIThought_ Admin for WEBA.Law, WA Unemployment Benefits Sep 01 '25
if a person reports self-employment Three times or more within any benefit year, this fact finding is triggered. That's it. it's nothing to do with anything other than that. it's an automated thing
your job search log is fine. it's an approved activity. so it's an approved activity. they do not list better or worse activities. That's not a thing. so your log is great. it's fine
sounds like you and I have to go over the questions individually. I have a bunch of stuff I have to do after work and I'm leaving work right now. what time are you going to be available? until when?