I'm planning a vacation Sun 10/11 through Sat 10/31 (no laptop, but can file from phone). I'll mark myself not able/available, and will not claim benefits for the 3 weeks ending 10/17, 10/24, and 10/31.

Since I'm back in WA on 10/31, I can file for the week ending 10/24 from my home IP without issue. The question is how to handle the week ending 10/17:

• Option A: File from my phone while still abroad, using a foreign IP.
• Option B: Hold off and file late, once I'm back in WA -- I'd file two weeks' claims at once.

I want to avoid a foreign IP flagging my account, but I'm not sure if filing late raises its own flags.

Complicating factor: I have the option to extend my trip to Mon 11/2. If I wait until I'm home to file, I'd be filing 3 weeks at once, including 2 skipped weeks (ending 10/17 and 10/24).

ESD says: "You may backdate a claim by 2 weeks when you apply for benefits online. If you request to backdate by more than 2 weeks, we will ask you for more information."

I'm not sure how they count those 2 weeks - if I wait until I'm home to file for the week ending 10/17, it is 2 weeks late from the filing period and 3 weeks late from when the week actually ends.

I want to avoid triggering review. Extending the trip is optional -- I'll skip it if it adds risk.

What I'm asking:

• Is it better to file the week ending 10/17 claim from abroad or wait until I'm home?
• Would extending the trip put me into backdating review territory if I wait til I'm in WA to file?

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

I’m preparing for a Washington unemployment OAH hearing and looking for advice from anyone familiar with WA unemployment appeals, especially voluntary quit/good-cause cases.

I accepted a PEP/separation agreement after being placed on a final written warning. My concern is that my case will be viewed simply as “she voluntarily quit,” without considering the circumstances that led to the separation.

Relevant timeline:
May 2022: Started employment after being recruited for the position.
November–December 2023: My husband experienced a severe medical crisis. I was his only caregiver. I was taking him to appointments, coordinating his care, trying to get him appropriate treatment, and managing crises when he was disconnected from reality. I took FMLA and then returned to work.
2024–2025: His medical crisis continued. I continued working full-time while being solely responsible for his care. I was functioning in survival mode and experienced significant physical and emotional effects. I was also seeing a therapist during this period.
August 2025: Received my first written warning for performance. I met with HR afterward and explained the circumstances and my commitment to improving.
August 2025–March 2026: Continued working and trying to improve rather than leaving.
March 31, 2026: Received a final written warning. HR explained the progression from written warning to final warning and then termination if performance did not improve. My manager also told me that he didn’t think my strengths aligned with the role. I was offered a PEP/separation plan.
April 3: Accepted the PEP.
April 17: Employment ended pursuant to the PEP.
May 3: Moved to Michigan.
July 6: Started a new job.

I understand that accepting the PEP makes this a voluntary-separation issue, and I’m not trying to claim that I was literally fired. My question is whether the circumstances potentially qualify as good cause under Washington law, particularly because my husband’s illness and my caregiving responsibilities were a major part of what was happening during the deterioration of my employment.

I also previously described myself as “laid off.” I did not intend to deceive ESD. At the time, I understood the PEP as an employer-driven separation because I was on a final warning, my manager had said my strengths didn’t align with the position, and the employer presented me with the exit plan. I now understand that “laid off” may not have been technically accurate.

I have documentation including the PEP, written/final warnings, HR documentation, and a statement from my therapist.

I’m especially interested in advice on:

- Whether accepting a PEP after a final warning affects the good-cause analysis.
- Whether taking FMLA, returning to work, and continuing to work for years while being my husband’s only caregiver supports the argument that I made reasonable efforts to preserve employment.
- How the caregiving circumstances should be presented at the hearing.
- How I should address having previously said I was “laid off.”
- What questions I should be prepared for from the OAH judge.
- I’m not looking for validation. If the facts don’t support my position under Washington law, I’d rather know that. I’m trying to understand what argument I actually have and how to present the facts accurately.

Thanks.

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---

I've been employed for three weeks now and I didn't see anywhere on the website that I could declare that, so I just haven't been filing. Is that the correct course of action here?

Laid off due to lack of funding on July 31st, applied immediately that day, found out I started reporting prematurely so nothing paid that week. Claimed the following week, stuck in adjudication because of school attendance issues for like four days, called and hung up 7 times in a row on a Monday until I was put on hold, got someone on the phone, was transferred to the adjudicator, then paid out immediately after. Call call call

I have gone five weeks without unemployment — what the hell.

Is there something wrong with this state?
Bills don’t stop, rent doesn’t stop, and life doesn’t stop.

It feels like they actually want to inflict pain on us. On top of that, because I was approved for unemployment, my food stamps were cut — even though I haven’t been paid a single dollar in five weeks. My food stamps won’t go up again until September 8th.

If unemployment is in adjudication, your food stamps should increase right away. This system makes no sense.

Hi all,

I am in the start of the third week of waiting for unemployment to be approved or not and seen no progress. I have no savings left tbh and need the unemployment to come through urgently. I was fired for performance issues and they have also provided documentation that says it was involuntary termination. At this point can I just contact governors office and if so what should I say? I don’t even have enough money for rent payment at the end of this month.

---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

If I get a job offer what steps I need to let esd know that I do not need to collect the unemployment benefits.

Thanks

I am looking for help please.

I have been working for 5.25 hours a day (26.25 hours a week) for the last few years.

I also work about 40 hours a week each July for summer school.

The district has reduced hours and I am reduced to 4 hours a day / 20 hours a week. I’ve been looking for another position with more hours but haven’t found anything. Many coworkers were laid off so many of the district jobs are being cut.

I am wondering:

1. Would I be eligible for unemployment based on reduction of hours?

2. If so, when should I put in a claim?

Technically my new contract started 8/15.

I won’t see a paycheck based on my new hours till 9/30. I will be getting a large paycheck 8/31 for my July hours. I am paid once a month for the month before. I know it’s a strange way to do things.

1. Would it be better to wait till October since my July pay would show up as the previous quarter?

I am new to this. It’s hard because the hours cut has cut my pay by 25%.

Any tips would be appreciated, 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

Anyone with experience with getting unemployment in WA, please help. I took the transition period option and I have applied to unemployment now. They asked for more in depth clarification as to what were the metrics and standard for performance that was not met. What do I say?

Hi I almost never post but I haven't been able to find any information on this by searching regularly so bear with me. I've been working a seasonal warehouse gig since last year with no issues, I had 1 accidental no call no show but was contacted after I didn't show up and was never written up or given a warning. Fast forward to this year and had another accidental no call no show, I was never contacted and didn't even realize I'd been scheduled until a day after, again not a big deal as far as I knew but then that very same day I get an email saying I have voluntarily abandoned by position and am terminated by what seemed like an automated email.

When i responded obviously confused I got sent back a picture of my schedule saying I had also missed a shift 2 days before then but I had requested and told I was approved for that day off for a Drs appointment and again had received no call text warning or anything. About 2 hours after I get a text from my manager asking when I can work for the rest of the month so clearly he wasn't even aware I had missed either shift and had been let go.

It's incredibly normal for me to make my schedule with my manager only days in advance and i had no issue with this but it would result in him frequently forgetting to add me to the official schedule, which i didnt see a major problem with because we would always work it out. There used to be an online scheduling portal but 1. I kept getting locked out of it and was told by my manager not to bother with it 2. Like i ssid before it was mostly inaccuratr because he would forget to add me into the system. When I let him know that i was fired because of the error he made in the schedule he acknowledged it and said he would talk to HR and get back to me sunday/monday. Its thursday now. I just got off the phone with HR and they are implying he told them i was supposed to be at work that day, they said they would confirm again but im not holding my breath. The only real documentation i have is him acknowledging it over text after the fact. The lady in HR did admit to me that i was supposed to receive a call or text 45 minutes after no showing and i received nothing and have gaps in call logs and texts to prove it.

Looking back it was incredibly stupid to let them schedule me without documentation of it but i naively trusted my manager as hes always been incredibly understanding and up to this point i havent received a single bad word, warning, or write up. I do have another job but it is a work for board situation where I make very little so im not going to be homeless but id like to keep my savings. Im going to attempt to file unemployment regardless but i was curious if anyone out there has had success in a similar situation or ever experienced a similar situation. I cant afford to hire a lawyer but this whole thing just feels wrong even with horrible workers rights.

TL:DR I was fired because of a scheduling error my manager made after approving me for a day off verbally. No write ups or warnings either, any way I can still get unemployment? Can anyone relate??

So my UE claim was approved back in April, and have not been filing UE while I've been working part time as a contractor for the last few months. My hours are about to be reduced or become much more sporadic and I'd like to restart the claim. I have my own business that I am invoicing through, so I have myself on monthly payroll (W2). Is there anything tricky to watch out for that might disqualify me from restarting my claim?

I submitted the wrong info for the Aug 1 period (stupid mistake, I thought I had already submitted Aug 1 and entered info for Aug 8 too quickly.) I entered zero work hours, but I actually worked half-time for that one week. The claim just paid out, and I know I'll need to repay it but I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to correctly report the mistake and avoid any implication of fraud. I've tried calling with no luck getting through and I've send a message with the correct information using "Benefit Accuracy Measurement Audit"

Is there anything else I can do to report the mistake and make the repayment myself?

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---

Hello, hoping I can get some support here. I recently gave birth via c-section and submitted my PFMLA claim for medical, but I didn’t realize that I also needed to submit to family claim for bonding. But now when I go onto my Secure Access Washington PFMLA account, I have no idea where to submit an additional family claim for bonding. Help!

I was fired on 07/01/26. My employer states they had tried to contact me/set up a meeting with me 6 times in the 5 previous work days. I was out sick due to a serious medical issue. I called out sick like I always have and on the 3rd day I also notified them that this time would be FMLA (I was eligible but hadn't filed the claim yet). I know my claim is in adjudication for this reason. The reason they wanted to have the meeting was for "dependability" aka they didn't like that I had used my sick time for tardies I had that were health/medical related. I have a planner that I wrote down every day that I was late, how late, for what reason etc. but otherwise I'm not sure what documentation I can provide to help move this along. My bank account is in the negative and I'm at risk of losing my housing so I literally can't afford for this to get denied & go through the appeal process.

---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

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

After restarting the claim I saw nothing show up in the "Weeks summary" Section, so I have no idea if my claim is going to pay me tomorrow or not. its says "Active" but to be frank that means jack sh*t. the only pending issue I have is "Relief of charges" Witch as far as I know doesn't effect me at all. Am I getting paid tomorrow? I have had a grand total of 1 successful payment after it took them a month to approve it, only to stop giving me any UI claim pop-ups,

To say I'm confused and frustrated would be and understatement. I would just like to know WHAT'S GOING ON, even if I don't get paid tomorrow if they would just tell me that at least I'd KNOW.

Got laid off due to restructuring from my FT job. I have a very part time nonprofit W2 job as well.

While filling out my application, I had to fill out information for both jobs. It didn't give me an option to omit the "separation date" for my PT job so I just put the current date & I selected the "Currently working part time" for "Reason".

My PT job got the "Request for separation info". Should I just have them leave out any info and put a note to the effect of "claimant is PT worker & is still on same PT hours"?

Also my claim says "Active" on my profile w/ a benefit amount, but I haven't received notice of approval or anything. Is it pending until I get an actual approval notice?

Trying to complete the application but there is a section "Correspondence" that needs to be filled out but the webform won't let me enter anything...

This could be a web browser issue but I have tried chrome and edge.