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Don't let your former employer intimidate you into not filing. I've heard of managers telling people they can't get unemployment if they were fired, but that's often not true. File your claim and let Washington ESD decide.
Bottom line - being fired doesn't automatically disqualify you from unemployment benefits in Washington. The circumstances matter. Performance issues, inability to do the job, and conflicts with management are usually not considered misconduct. File your claim and provide honest information about what happened.
The Washington ESD website has a benefit calculator tool that's pretty accurate if you want to estimate your weekly amount. You just need your quarterly wage information from the past 18 months or so. Much easier than trying to do the math yourself.
One more thing - if you end up applying and your benefit amount seems wrong, don't just accept it. I appealed my initial determination because I thought my WBA was calculated incorrectly, and I was right. They had missed some wage information and my weekly amount went up by $75.
This was really helpful! I bookmarked this thread because I might need to reference it later. The Washington ESD website has a lot of this info too but it's not explained as clearly as you all did here.
Hope this helps! Unemployment can be stressful but at least Washington has decent benefit amounts compared to some other states. Just make sure you follow all the rules and keep up with your weekly claims and job search requirements.
Filed mine at 11 PM on a Wednesday and it went smoothly. I think the late night hours are underrated - most people aren't up filing claims at that time.
Don't overthink the timing too much. Yes some times are better than others but the most important thing is just getting it filed. I stressed about the perfect time for three days before just doing it, and it worked fine.
Benjamin Johnson
Thanks everyone for all the info. Sounds like I'm stuck with just the workers comp benefits for now. Hopefully my case gets resolved soon so I can get back to work or at least apply for unemployment if I can't find a job right away.
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Zara Perez
•Hang in there. The workers comp process is frustrating but it does eventually get resolved. Make sure you're documenting everything for your case.
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Daniel Rogers
•Good luck with everything. Hope you heal up quickly and can get back to earning full wages soon.
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Aaliyah Reed
This whole discussion makes me glad I have disability insurance through work. Workers comp alone definitely isn't enough to live on if you get seriously injured.
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Ella Russell
•Not everyone has that option though. A lot of construction and manual labor jobs don't offer good disability coverage.
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Mohammed Khan
•True, and even when they do offer it, a lot of people can't afford the premiums on top of everything else.
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