Can't reach Washington Unemployment? Claimyr connects you to a live ESD agent in minutes.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the ESD
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the ESD drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
Join the conversation
Join the conversation
This has been super educational. I thought calculating quarterly earnings would be much more complicated but it's actually pretty straightforward once you understand the basic rules. Thanks for all the help everyone!
Exactly! I feel ready to file my claim now. This thread probably saved me hours of confusion.
One thing that helped me when I was calculating my quarterly earnings was to organize all my information first before trying to figure out if I qualified. I made a simple spreadsheet with columns for each quarter and listed all my employers and their reported wages. It made it much easier to see if I met the requirements - especially the part about having wages in at least two quarters. Also, don't forget that if you had any wage adjustments or bonuses that were reported in different quarters than when you actually worked, those could affect your totals. Washington ESD goes by when wages were reported to them, not necessarily when you earned them.
That's a really smart approach! I wish I had thought to make a spreadsheet when I was trying to figure this out. The timing issue you mentioned about when wages were reported versus when earned is something I hadn't considered - that could definitely throw off someone's calculations if they're not careful. Did you run into any situations where a bonus or final paycheck got reported in a different quarter than expected?
Yes, actually! I had a year-end bonus that I earned in December but it didn't get processed and reported until January, so it showed up in Q1 of the following year instead of Q4. It threw off my initial calculations because I was counting it in the wrong quarter. That's why checking your SAW account is so important - you need to see what Washington ESD actually has on file, not just assume based on when you remember earning the money. The spreadsheet approach really helped me catch that discrepancy.
Join the conversation
Great thread everyone. I bookmarked this for future reference. The information about keeping benefits in a separate account is especially helpful.
Glad this was helpful! It's one of those things that can really stress people out when they don't know their rights.
Same here. I feel so much better knowing my UI benefits are protected from my credit card debt. Thanks everyone for the detailed explanations.
This thread has been incredibly informative! I'm dealing with a similar situation with old medical debt and was terrified they could take my unemployment benefits. Reading about RCW 50.40.020 and everyone's experiences has given me so much peace of mind. I'm definitely going to set up a separate account for my UI benefits like several people recommended. It's frustrating that Washington ESD doesn't make this information more accessible on their website - having to hunt through legal statutes shouldn't be necessary to understand basic protections.
I'm so glad this thread helped you too! Medical debt can be really scary to deal with when you're already unemployed. The separate account strategy has been a lifesaver for me - it just makes everything so much cleaner if any questions come up. You're absolutely right about the ESD website being unclear. For something this important, they should have a simple FAQ page that explains the protections in plain English instead of making people dig through legal codes.
Join the conversation
Quick update for everyone - my claim was paid retroactively for all 8 weeks it had been pending. I think the key factors that helped were: 1) Having MULTIPLE hardship documents, not just one 2) The letter explaining exactly why I needed immediate action 3) Following up with a phone call to ESD after sending the email (I just mentioned I had submitted hardship documents).
That's fantastic! Did you call the regular ESD number for your follow-up? I'm wondering if there's a special number for hardship cases or if you just went through the main line?
I called the regular ESD number (800-318-6022). It took me about 45 minutes on hold to talk to someone. I just mentioned that I had submitted hardship documents via email and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. The agent made a note on my account that I had called about the hardship documents, which I think helped connect everything together.
This is incredibly helpful, thank you for sharing! I've been stuck in processing limbo for 6 weeks and didn't know about the hardship document option. Quick question - when you wrote your PDF letter, did you format it like a formal business letter with your address/date at the top? Also, did you mention your financial situation in specific dollar amounts or keep it more general? I have a utility shutoff notice and really need to try this approach.
Join the conversation
Just went through something similar myself! The key thing everyone's mentioning is absolutely right - your employer HAS to be the one to submit the standby request through their portal. I made the same mistake thinking a letter would be enough. Once my employer submitted it properly (took them about 10 minutes once they figured out where to go in their account), it got approved in about a week. The construction industry classification is super important for getting the full 8 weeks. Don't skip your job searches while waiting though - I learned that the hard way when they initially denied some of my weekly claims for incomplete activities. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your experience! It's reassuring to hear from someone who went through the exact same thing. I'm definitely going to keep up with the job search activities while waiting - sounds like ESD doesn't mess around with that requirement. Did you have any issues with the retroactive approval for the weeks before your employer submitted the request, or did they cover everything once it was approved?
I'm in a similar boat right now - got temporarily laid off from my warehouse job and thought I could handle the standby request myself. Reading through all these responses, it's clear I need to get my employer involved ASAP. One question though - for those who've been through this process, did your employer's HR department know about the SAW portal requirements, or did you have to walk them through it? My company is pretty small and I'm not sure if they've dealt with standby requests before. Also, has anyone had success getting ESD to waive the job search requirements for the weeks while waiting for employer submission, or should I just plan on doing them regardless?
Sofia Rodriguez
Wow, reading through this entire thread as someone who just started collecting unemployment benefits has been incredibly educational! I had no idea about the phone menu strategy (option 2 then option 3) or how crucial timing is when calling ESD. It's both terrifying and comforting to see how easily these mistakes can happen but also how there are actual solutions if you know the right steps. I'm definitely going to be obsessively double-checking my job search entries before submitting from now on. This community knowledge is invaluable - the ESD system feels so much less scary knowing there are people here who've navigated these issues successfully and are willing to share the exact steps that work. Thank you everyone for creating such a helpful resource!
0 coins
Zoe Kyriakidou
•Same here! I'm about to file my first unemployment claim next week and this thread has been like a crash course in ESD survival tactics. The phone menu hack alone (option 2 then option 3 at exactly 8am) is worth its weight in gold. I'm going to screenshot my job search activities before entering them and maybe even keep a backup list on my phone just in case. It's wild that we need these workarounds, but I'm so grateful everyone shared their real experiences instead of just generic advice. This is the kind of insider knowledge that can literally save someone from weeks of financial stress!
0 coins
Muhammad Hobbs
This thread is absolutely gold for anyone dealing with ESD! As someone who's been on unemployment for about 6 months now, I wish I had found this community sooner. The phone strategy everyone's mentioning (option 2 then option 3 at 8am sharp) has worked for me twice when I had different issues - once for a payment delay and once when my identity verification got stuck. The key really is persistence and knowing the right menu path. I've also learned to keep detailed notes of every job search activity in a separate document before entering them into the system, just as backup. It's frustrating that we have to become ESD system experts just to get our benefits, but threads like this make it so much more manageable. Huge thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and solutions!
0 coins