btw i forgot to mention my hearing was over the phone not in person. is yours phone or zoom or in person? the phone one was actually easier than i expected. the judge was super nice and my old boss kept contradicting himself and sounded like an idiot lol. i won my case in the end!

UPDATE??!! Did you manage to get your benefits continued during the appeal? Hope you and your daughter are ok 💜

My daughter works at ESD and she always tells people to file on Sunday for a clean start to the claim week. Makes the whole process smoother for everyone! Also remember that your first week is a waiting week (unpaid) but you STILL have to file a weekly claim for it or your claim can get messed up.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice! I'm going to wait until Sunday to file my initial claim. It seems like that's the best approach to avoid complications with partial weeks. I'll make sure to have all my employment information ready and set aside enough time to complete the application thoroughly. I'll also remember to file for that first "waiting week" even though it's unpaid. Really appreciate all your insights!

make sure u check ur esd account spam folder too!!!! they sent me important messages that went to spam and i almost missed my deadline to respond

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I've talked to my HR department and confirmed they submitted the standby request yesterday. I've set up my ESD account to get text alerts and checked that my contact info is all correct. Now I guess I just wait and keep filing those weekly claims. Fingers crossed it moves on the faster end of the timeline!

UPDATE: After reviewing the ESD handbook more carefully, I can confirm that accepting an intermittent job without actual work hours does NOT automatically disqualify you from benefits. The key factors are: 1. You must remain able and available for full-time work 2. You must continue conducting job searches (3 per week) 3. You must accurately report your employment status The issue is likely in how the employment status was reported. In the weekly claim questions, there's a distinction between "Do you have a job?" (Yes) and "Did you work during this week?" (No). This nuance matters significantly for intermittent positions. When you appeal, emphasize that you remained available for full-time work, continued job searching, and had no actual work or earnings from the intermittent position during the weeks in question.

after dealing with my appeal i learned that ESD's definition of "available for work" is super specific. they wanna know if having this intermittent job would prevent u from accepting full-time work elsewhere. if u said u were committed to this intermittent job even if it meant turning down full-time work elsewhere, that might be why they're saying ur not eligible.

I'm an employment lawyer (not giving legal advice, just general info). For your hearing, organize your thoughts around these points: 1. Unsafe working conditions (uncertified forklift operation) 2. Employer's failure to remedy after reasonable notice 3. Documentation of injuries resulting from unsafe conditions 4. Timeline showing you attempted resolution before quitting During the hearing: - Answer questions directly and briefly - Don't interrupt the judge or your former employer - When describing events, stick to "I observed" or "I experienced" rather than assumptions about others' motives - If your employer makes false statements, wait for your turn to respond, then calmly present contradicting evidence I've seen many employees win these cases when they have clear documentation of safety violations that weren't addressed after being reported.

One more important tip: Be very specific about the timeline leading up to your quit. The judge will want to know: 1. When did you first report safety concerns? To whom? 2. What was their response? 3. How many times did you follow up? 4. What was the "final straw" that made you quit? 5. How much time passed between reporting and quitting? Based on what you've shared, it sounds like you have a strong case for good cause, but you need to clearly demonstrate you tried to resolve the issues before leaving. Print all your evidence in triplicate and have it organized chronologically so you can quickly reference it during questioning.