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anyone know if i can apply for food stamps while waiting for unemployment to come thru?? im in the same boat, week 6 of waiting...
I've been following this thread and wanted to check if you've made any progress? One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is requesting an official "hardship review" - this is different from just mentioning financial hardship. Call ESD and specifically say: "I need to request a formal hardship review for my claim due to imminent financial crisis." This triggers a specific process where they're required to evaluate your case within 48 hours. Also, when calling, try early morning (7:30-8:00am) or late afternoon (3:30-4:00pm) as these tend to have slightly shorter wait times. If using their callback feature, make sure your voicemail isn't full and your phone accepts calls from private/unknown numbers. Have you tried any of these approaches yet?
Update: I finally got some movement on my claim! I tried the formal hardship review request like you suggested, and also used Claimyr to get through to an actual person. Got connected to a tier 2 specialist who found the issue - apparently my former employer disputed my hours (even though I reported them correctly). The agent put in an expedite request based on my hardship documentation and said I should see a determination within 7-10 days instead of the original 2 months! Still not immediate, but WAY better than before. Thank you everyone for all the advice - this forum has been so helpful when I was feeling completely lost in the ESD maze.
You should check if you have any additional fact-finding questions in your eServices account. Sometimes there are multiple issues and even if one gets resolved favorably, another might be holding up payment. Log in and look under "Alerts" and also check all tabs under the "Uploads and Messages" section. I missed a fact-finding questionnaire that was hiding there and it delayed my payments for weeks!
Just following up - did you ever get your payments resolved? I'm curious if the website message suggestion or anything else worked for you.
Update: Finally got through to ESD yesterday! Used that Claimyr service someone mentioned above and it actually worked. Turns out I had a payment block that needed manual removal even though they ruled in my favor. The agent fixed it while I was on the phone and said payments should process within 48 hours. Just checked my account and the status changed from "disqualified" to "pending"! Relief!!
I want to clarify something important that's being missed in this thread. If you DON'T get standby status approved, you absolutely must continue doing your job search activities even with a job offer in hand. Failing to do so can result in benefit denial and possible overpayment assessment. Also, once your standby period ends (usually 8 weeks max), you'll need to resume job searches if your start date gets pushed back again beyond that timeframe. ESD is strict about this rule and they do audit claims randomly.
Thank you for clarifying! I called ESD this morning (waited almost 2 hours) and got approved for 6 weeks of standby. The agent said if my start date gets pushed back again beyond that, I'd need to request an extension with documentation from my employer explaining the continued delay. Really appreciate everyone's help!
wait wait wait so if I accepted a job but haven't started yet I don't have to keep applying to random jobs? ive been filing for months and no one told me this wtf
i know someone that appealed and won but they had documentation from their doctor saying the job was affecting their mental health. do u have anything like that?
Don't forget that even if you appeal, you need to keep filing your weekly claims! Many people miss this. Even if your initial claim is denied, if you win on appeal, they'll pay you for all those weeks - but ONLY if you filed claims for them. It's easy to get discouraged and stop filing, but that's a big mistake.
I actually stopped filing after the first month when I hadn't heard anything... I guess I should start again? Will they backpay me for the weeks I missed filing?
Nora Bennett
To answer your original question more specifically: 1) Yes, payments are delayed by one business day following federal holidays 2) This affects ALL banking transactions, not just ESD payments 3) The payment should show as "processing" in your ESD account even if it hasn't hit your bank yet 4) If you don't see it by Thursday morning, THEN there might be an issue with your claim For future reference, all 2025 federal holidays that will delay payments are: New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
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Grace Lee
•Thank you for the detailed info! You're right - I just checked my ESD account and it does show as processing. That makes me feel better. And thanks for the 2025 holiday list - I'll mark those on my calendar to avoid future panic!
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The Boss
Just wanted to update - I received my payment this morning (Wednesday) as expected after the holiday. Hope everyone else did too!
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Grace Lee
•Got mine too! Thanks everyone for the help and clarification.
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