anybody know if there's a time limit to appeal these decisions? i got denied for something similar like 4 months ago but didnt appeal cuz i thought it was final. wondering if i can still try now that i can work

UPDATE: I submitted my appeal with my doctor's note yesterday, and today I got a notification that my appeal has been received and is "pending scheduling" for a hearing. The message says it could take 4-6 weeks for a hearing to be scheduled. I'll keep filing my weekly claims in the meantime. Thanks everyone for your help - I'll update again when I have news!

Have you looked into the Employment Recovery Dislocated Worker program? Since you mentioned your entire department was downsized, you might qualify for additional training and support services beyond regular unemployment. The program targets workers in declining industries or affected by mass layoffs. I went through it when my manufacturing plant closed in 2023 and got approved for a coding bootcamp with extended benefits! Definitely worth checking out at your local WorkSource office. For the weekly job search activities, if you get approved for training, your training hours count toward the requirement during that period. Also, even informational interviews and networking events count as valid activities - document everything carefully though!

One more thing! When doing your weekly claims while job searching, be extra careful answering the "able and available" question. If you're taking classes or training without ESD approval, and those classes make you unavailable for work during normal business hours, you could be disqualified. You must remain able and available for suitable work unless specifically approved for a training program. This tripped up several people I know.

Update: I was able to get through to ESD yesterday! The agent explained that this is a common system issue with gig work. They had to manually reclassify DoorDash as self-employment in their system rather than a regular employer. Once they did that, I was able to complete my weekly claim properly without the date error. She also said I should report any future gig work earnings under the self-employment section of the weekly claim, not as regular employer income. Thank you all for your help!

Yes, they did review my previous weeks! The agent said everything looked correct since I hadn't been reporting any DoorDash income during those weeks (since I hadn't worked for them). But she said it's good I got it fixed now before it caused problems down the road. For anyone else dealing with this same issue - definitely call ESD directly and have them fix how your gig work is classified in their system!

To directly answer your question about legal advantages: The judge missing their own stated timeline for issuing a decision does not create any legal advantage for your case. OAH judges are given up to 30 days by statute to issue their decisions, regardless of what timeline they mention during the hearing. If you don't receive a decision by day 30 after your hearing, THEN you might have grounds to request administrative review based on procedural delay. But at less than 10 days out, it's completely normal and won't impact the substance of your case in any way. Regarding job search activities - if you win your appeal for a period when you missed job search activities, you'll likely need to request a good cause waiver for the missed activities. Document why you were focused on the hearing (stress, preparation, etc.).

my freind had this happen an the judge forgott to mail the decsion at all!! she had to call OAH after 3 weeks and they were like 'oops' and emailed it to her that same day. mabye try calling them???

Update us after your next payment is supposed to come through! I'm curious if yours processes normally or if you hit the same problems I did.

UPDATE: Just wanted to let everyone know my payment came through normally! Looks like you all were right that the standby denial didn't affect my regular benefits. Thanks for all the help and reassurance!