One important piece of advice - whatever you do, keep filing your weekly claims even though you're not receiving any money. If your waiver is approved, they'll pay all those weeks retroactively, but only if you've been consistently filing each week. Also, be aware that overpayment waivers are currently taking 8-12 weeks to process according to what an ESD rep told me last week (I work with unemployment cases). So you'll need a plan to manage financially during this time.

UPDATE: I filled out the hardship form and cited WAC 192-230-100 as someone suggested. It took three phone calls (using Claimyr to get through), but they finally reduced my recoupment rate to 40%! Not ideal but at least I'll get some money while waiting for the waiver decision. Thanks everyone for your help! I'll update again when I hear about my waiver.

I'm an employment attorney (though not YOUR attorney, so this isn't formal legal advice). For your unemployment appeal hearing, the legal standard to focus on is whether there was "misconduct" that would disqualify you from benefits. Insubordination can be misconduct, but refusing a schedule change with only 4 days' notice when you have legitimate childcare constraints is generally NOT considered misconduct under Washington unemployment law. Key points for your hearing: 1. Emphasize that you were willing to work with them on a solution but needed reasonable accommodation and time to arrange childcare 2. Note that you had a consistent schedule for 3 years that was suddenly changed 3. Explain specifically WHY 4 days wasn't enough time (childcare contracts, provider availability, etc.) 4. Frame it as an impossible choice, not insubordination Under WAC 192-150-120, a substantial involuntary change to your work agreement can constitute good cause for leaving employment, especially with inadequate notice. Stay calm, stick to facts, and don't get baited into criticizing your former employer.

UPDATE: I had my appeal hearing this morning and I think it went well! I stayed calm and focused on the facts about the schedule change giving me inadequate notice for childcare arrangements. I mentioned WAC 192-150-120 which seemed to impress the judge, and I had all my documentation ready. The judge said I should receive a decision within 2-3 weeks. Thank you all SO MUCH for your advice - it made me much more prepared and confident!

i forgot to say my friend missed a week once and she called ESD right away and they let her backfile for the missed week. BUT she had to call within like 3 days of missing it and had a good excuse (she was in the hospital). so if he does miss a week don't give up, call them asap!!

I had the same issue last summer when I filed. The weekly claim button didn't show up until about 10 days after my initial application. Something about how their system processes new claims. But heres the weird thing - when it finally appeared, I was able to backfile for the week I thought I missed! So don't panic yet, just keep checking every day. The ESD systems are really outdated lol.

Just to follow up on my earlier comment - definitely do both the email AND the secure message like others suggested. Belt and suspenders approach is best with ESD. And make sure to check your spam folder for responses too. Their emails sometimes end up there.

Update: I sent both an email to the recovery address AND a secure message through eServices yesterday morning. Just got a response to my email confirming they've received my withdrawal request and will process it within 5-7 business days! Thanks everyone for your help with this. Such a relief to have it in progress!

I'm going through this exact situation and finally managed to reach an ESD agent yesterday. They told me that any change in your weekly claim answers compared to previous weeks can trigger an automatic review - even saying "no" to looking for work when you previously said "yes" (like if you had interviews one week but not the next). The agent also mentioned their system sometimes flags claims randomly for quality control. Another thing to check: did you work any hours at all during your pending week? Even a single hour can sometimes trigger a review if the system thinks there might be earnings to deduct. Once you get someone on the phone, they should be able to release the pending payment if there's no actual issue with your claim. Good luck!

jst wait till they decide you were overpaid and want $5000 back lmao thats what happened to my brother