Quick update on your pension question - I want to clarify something important. In Washington state, pension income generally only affects UI benefits if: 1. The pension is from a base period employer (which yours is not), AND 2. The base period employer contributed to or maintained the pension plan (again, not applicable in your case) Given your father's pension is from employment that ended years ago with a different employer than his most recent one, I'm even more confident this overpayment notice is in error. This is clearly spelled out in RCW 50.04.323 if you want to reference the exact law in your appeal.

one more thing to think about: make sure ur dad keeps filing his weekly claims during the whole appeal process even if they stop paying him!!! if he stops filing and then wins the appeal later he might not get back pay for the weeks he didn't claim. learned this the hard way :

I just tried calling the governor's office and they took all my info! The woman was really nice and said she'd send it to her ESD contact. Fingers crossed it works as well for me as it did for you! Will update if anything changes.

i had a similar situation last yr but i contacted my state representative instead. same result - approved within 2 days after 6 wks of nothing! its crazy that we have to go this route but whatever works i guess

One final tip - if you've been waiting more than 2 weeks and still see no movement, reach out to your state representative's office. They often have direct contacts in the ESD office who can expedite these situations. I've seen cases where a simple inquiry from a legislator's office miraculously fixed problems that had been dragging on for months.

Thank you so much everyone for all the help and advice! I'll give it until next Friday, and if nothing's changed by then I'll try calling, using Claimyr if needed, and reaching out to my state rep if all else fails. I'll update here when something happens in case it helps someone else in the future.

One more thing that might help - request a detailed breakdown of exactly WHICH weeks they're claiming overpayment for. The notice should have this info, but sometimes it's not clear. Once you know the specific weeks, check if you can access your old weekly claim certifications in your ESD account history. The system usually keeps these records, though they might be archived. Also, if you file an appeal, you'll automatically get scheduled for a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). This is actually good because it gives you a chance to explain your situation to a judge who isn't part of ESD.

One more tip: If your appeal is denied, you can still request a waiver of the overpayment based on financial hardship. There's a specific form for this on the ESD website. They'll look at your current income and expenses to determine if repaying would cause significant hardship. I've seen many pandemic-era overpayments waived this way, especially for people who are still struggling financially.

Don't forget that working part-time might qualify you for partial unemployment too!! I work part time and get a small UI payment each week. It's not much but every bit helps!

Another thing to consider is that sometimes working part-time can help extend your benefit year. Since you won't be drawing your full WBA each week when you have part-time earnings, your total benefit amount will last longer. Just make sure that your part-time work doesn't interfere with your availability for full-time work, as that's a requirement for receiving UI benefits. You need to be able and available for suitable full-time work and actively seeking it.