same thing happened to me last month! "failure to report earnings" but i had zero income during pandemic! turns out they had me confused with someone with similar name who was working at amazon. took 3 appeals but finally got it fixed. check your quarterly wage reports in your eServices account - might show incorrect employer info if thats whats happening. def appeal this!

To address your tax refund question specifically: Yes, both federal and state tax refunds can be intercepted for ESD overpayments. For federal refunds, it goes through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). For state refunds, it's handled directly by Washington Department of Revenue. However, if you file an appeal or waiver request, they may place a temporary hold on collection activities including tax intercepts. Make sure you request this specifically when you file your appeal.

I'd like to clarify something important: when you receive a monetary determination after a denied claim, you should check two key things: 1. Look at the "Effective Date" on the new determination - if it's different from your original claim date, it could be a completely new claim period being evaluated. 2. Review the "Potential Benefits" section - even if it shows a weekly benefit amount, this doesn't mean you're eligible. It just shows what you would receive IF you qualified based on wages alone. The monetary determination is just one part of eligibility. If you were denied for insufficient hours initially, but this new determination shows different hours/wages, you might want to check if something changed in your wage record. Don't ignore this letter - either way, it's an official determination that could be appealed if incorrect.

One more thing to consider - if you applied for regular UI and were denied, but might qualify for another program like PIT (Paid Internship Training) or certain trade-specific benefits, the system sometimes automatically evaluates you for those. The new determination might be for a different type of benefit program entirely.

My brother-in-law just went through this last month. His waiver only took about 4 weeks to approve, but I think his case was pretty straightforward since the overpayment was clearly ESD's mistake. They calculated his benefit wrong initially then tried to reclaim $4,200 a year later. Anyway what I'm trying to say is that sometimes it can be faster I guess?

Just wanted to follow up since my earlier comment. One thing I forgot to mention is that while you're waiting for the waiver decision, make sure you respond to ANY correspondence from ESD, even if it seems unrelated to your waiver. Sometimes they need additional info but don't specifically connect it to your waiver request in their communications. Also, document every interaction with ESD - date, time, who you spoke with, and what was discussed. This documentation can be incredibly helpful if you need to file an appeal or if there's any confusion about what information you've already provided. Stay patient and persistent. The process is designed to be thorough, which unfortunately means it can be slow.

has anyone else notice how the ESD website is always "down for maintenance" at the EXACT times u need to file ur weekly claim?? happened to me AGAIN last night when i tried to file right at midnight. seems suspicious...

FINAL UPDATE: My claim finally switched from pending to paid today! All 7 weeks of backpay are scheduled to hit my account tomorrow. Such a relief! If anyone else is stuck in pending limbo, definitely try the governor's office route - it took about 10 days total from when they got involved, but it worked when nothing else did.

did anybody else notice the esd website was down for like 4 hours last weekend? maybe they were doing updates and that affected the payment schedule

Update from someone who called ESD yesterday about this exact issue: They confirmed they've adjusted some of their payment batches due to increased claim volume. Some claimants have been permanently moved to different payment processing days. The representative said if your payment day has changed, it will likely stay on that new day going forward. They recommended allowing for a +/- 1 day window in your budget planning for UI benefits.