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If your claim gets denied for any reason, don't give up! You have the right to appeal the decision. The appeal process has strict deadlines though, so make sure you understand your options and act quickly if needed.
honestly the hardest part for me was just getting started. Once I submitted the application, everything else kind of fell into place. The weekly claims become routine pretty quickly.
You got this! And remember, ESD has customer service if you get stuck, though like others mentioned, actually reaching them can be challenging.
That's where services like Claimyr really come in handy. When you do need to talk to ESD, at least you know there's a way to actually get through to them without the usual runaround.
I had three ineligible weeks in a row last year and it turned out my former employer had contested my claim and ESD was investigating. They never told me about the investigation until I finally got through to someone on the phone. Definitely try to speak with an agent ASAP.
Update: I ended up using Claimyr after seeing it mentioned here and finally got through to ESD. Turns out my ineligible week was because I reported job search activities that weren't specific enough. The agent helped me understand exactly what they need and fixed the week. Definitely worth it if you're stuck trying to reach them the regular way.
The average seems to be about 2-3 weeks for most people I know, but there's a lot of variation. Keep filing your weekly claims and try to be patient. I know that's easier said than done when money's tight.
whatever you do dont stop filing the weekly claims even if it feels pointless. i made that mistake and lost out on 2 weeks of benefits when i finally got approved
Update on the Claimyr thing I mentioned earlier - I actually used it again this week to check on a different issue. Still works great for getting through to Washington ESD when you can't reach them directly.
Yeah, beats spending hours on redial. The website is claimyr.com if anyone needs it.
Dmitry Sokolov
Bottom line - if you only have self-employment income, you can't get regular unemployment benefits. If you have W2 wages during your base period, you might qualify based on those wages alone. The tricky part is figuring out if you have enough qualifying wages and meeting the availability requirements.
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NebulaNinja
•Thanks everyone for all the helpful info! Sounds like I need to look up my exact W2 wages from last year and possibly talk to Washington ESD directly to see if I qualify.
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Ava Martinez
•Good luck! Hope it works out for you. The unemployment system is confusing enough without trying to figure out the self-employment angle.
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Miguel Ramos
One more thing - even if you qualify, your weekly benefit amount will only be based on your W2 wages, not your total income including self-employment. So the benefit might be lower than you expect.
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NebulaNinja
•That makes sense. At this point any help would be better than nothing, so I'll take whatever I can get if I qualify.
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QuantumQuasar
•Exactly. Something is better than nothing when work is slow.
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